Worth the Truth
by alb925
Summary: McKenna and Fred have both been lied to before and now they're lying to each other. Besides that, Fred develops feelings for McKenna but is afraid to tell her. The secrets and lies threaten to ruin their relationship when all anyone wants is the truth.
1. Chapter 1

_"You should not take a fellow eight years old and make him swear to never kiss the girls" _**-Robert Browning**

* * *

><p>"Georgie, wake up! Bill and Charlie are coming home today!" Six year old Fred Weasley bounced onto his twin's bed and shook him awake. "And Christmas is almost here!"<p>

George sat up and rubbed his eyes. His red hair was sticking up all over the place and Fred knew his own hair probably looked similar, but he didn't care. His two oldest brothers were coming home from Hogwarts for Christmas and in two days it would actually _be_ Christmas. There was too much excitement going on to worry about bed head.

Fred sat back on his heels and grinned at his twin as they both turned to look at the calendar hanging on the wall in between their beds. The night before, they had crossed off another day, leaving only two more blank squares until they reached December 25th, circled in bright red.

"What time is it?" George asked.

"I don't know. I didn't bother to check," Fred shrugged.

The two of them scrambled to get dressed before rushing up to the bedroom at the very top of the house: Ron's room. They barged in and bounded onto the bed of their four year old brother. "Wake up, Ronnie!" Fred yelled.

"Why, what's the matter?" Ron mumbled, rolling onto his stomach and pulling his pillow onto his head. He worshipped sleep almost as Fred and George did, but there were some occasions where sleep could wait.

"Nothing's the matter," George said, bouncing a little harder, "but Bill and Charlie are coming home today so wake up!"

Without waiting for a response, the twins jumped off the bed and ran from the room. They ran until they reached Ginny's room. Instead of jumping onto her bed, they gently shook her awake. "Come on, Gin," George said gently. "Wake up."

"Bill and Charlie are coming home today! Aren't you excited to see your big brothers?" Fred asked.

Ginny blinked her eyes open and grinned up at Fred and George. "Billy and Charlie?" she asked excitedly, sitting up and looking around as if she expected her brothers to be hiding somewhere in her room.

"Not yet," George whispered, taking the hand of his three year old sister. "We have to go wake up Percy first, okay?" Once Ginny had slid out of bed, they began to walk to the door with Fred in tow.

"Percy wants to see Billy and Charlie too?" Ginny asked.

Fred nodded. "Of course he does, but we have to wake him up first so that he can be ready when they get here. That's why we need your help." They reached Percy's room and the twins knelt down to look Ginny in the eyes.

"We have to be really quiet at first," George explained. "And then we go crazy and jump onto his bed."

"Okay," Ginny nodded, looking excited. "Can Kirby come too?" She held up her small stuffed hippogriff.

"Sure," Fred said quickly, excited to hurry and wake Percy. He was definitely the most amusing to wake up. Ron almost always went back to sleep and Ginny always woke up willingly. Percy, however, would flail around like a fish out of water and scream like a little girl.

The three siblings tiptoed into Percy's room until they were a few feet away from his bed. They paused for a fraction of a second.

"Now?" Ginny asked.

Fred and George took a deep breath. "Now," they whispered together.

With that, the three of them let out loud whoops and flung themselves onto the bed of their third oldest brother, who let out a loud yell, as predicted. His limbs were flailing and his eyes were squeezed shut, even though he was most definitely awake now.

"Tickle him!" George yelled and three pairs of hands ticked every inch of Percy they could find.

"Stop it! Get off!" Percy cried, but it was no use. Fred grinned. This was entirely too much fun.

Finally, with a loud thud, Percy rolled off the bed, his blankets wrapped around him like a toga, his long legs and bare feet sticking out at the bottom. Frowning, he crawled towards his nightstand and fumbled for his glasses as Ginny, Fred and George looked down at him from the bed.

"Morning, Perce," Fred said gleefully.

"Good morning!" Ginny said, bouncing slightly, Kirby the stuffed hippogriff clutched tightly in her hands.

"I wouldn't call it 'good,' exactly," Percy muttered, finally finding his glasses and sticking them on his nose, still frowning.

"Why not?" Ginny asked, climbing off the bed and into Percy's lap. "Want to hold Kirby?" She offered Kirby to her brother, who finally cracked a smile and hugged her.

"No, that's okay, Ginny." He looked up at the twins and raised an eyebrow. "What's all the excitement for anyway?"

"Bill and Charlie are coming home today!" Fred exclaimed.

"I'm aware, but it's only, "Percy glanced at his watch, "seven in the morning. They aren't expected until at least eleven thirty."

"So what? Aren't you excited at all?" Fred asked.

"Even a teeny-," George continued.

"Tiny-,"

"Itty-,"

"Bitty-,"

"Okay, okay, stop," Percy interrupted, holding up his hand. "I never said I wasn't excited. I just said it's too early to be woken up to such noise."

"It wasn't _noise_, Perce," Fred sniffed.

"It was the wonderful sound of excitement," George concluded.

"Does excitement always have to be so _loud_?" Percy asked.

"I don't know. What do you think, Gin?" Fred asked, looking down at his sister.

"Loud!" she repeated, clapping her hands.

"We win," the twins said together, identical grins spreading over their faces. They marched out of Percy's room and down the stairs to the kitchen, where they found their mother cooking breakfast. "Morning, Mum," they said.

"Morning," she answered. "I know you just got downstairs, but can you go wake up the others? Breakfast is almost ready."

"We already did that," George said, standing beside his mother at the stove, gripping the counter with his hands and stretching up on his tiptoes to look at the bacon she was making. He snatched a piece out of the pan and bit it. His mother sent him a glare, but he just smiled.

"Everyone's awake except maybe Ron," Fred said, climbing into his seat at the table. "He might have gone back to sleep."

"I'll go get him, then. Where's Ginny?" Mrs. Weasley moved the bacon from the stove to a plate and set it on the table.

"With Percy," the twins answered simultaneously.

Mrs. Weasley nodded and headed up the stairs. Fred and George looked at each other. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Fred asked.

"I think I am," George answered with a smirk. With that, they nodded their heads as they made their decision. Fred grabbed the bacon lying on the plate and he and his twin took off to a corner of the living room. It was their favorite corner, made into a perfect hiding spot by a chair that was situated just perfectly so that it would hide them from view.

"One for me, one for you, one for me, one for you, one for me, one for you, one for me, one for you, one for me, one for you," George said, counting out five pieces of bacon for each of them. They had barely started on their first pieces each when they heard their mother yelling for them. "Fred! George!"

"We're caught," Fred whispered.

"We need to hide the evidence," George said.

"Where?" Fred looked around. There was nowhere they could possibly hide the rest of their bacon.

George got a mischievous glint in his eyes and began sticking his bacon under the cushion of the chair in front of them. Fred immediately followed suit before they jumped out of their hiding spot and ran to the kitchen, where their mother was situating Ginny at the table. Ron was already sitting. He had his chin on the table as he patiently waited for his breakfast.

"Where did the bacon go?" Mrs. Weasley asked at once.

Fred and George shrugged. "We don't know."

"I know you know," Mrs. Weasley said. "You were the only ones down here. I put the bacon right here on the table. Now it's gone. Where is it?" She straightened up and looked at the twins sternly.

"Gone," Fred said simply.

"Gone," she repeated, raising an eyebrow.

The twins nodded. "It was eaten," Fred said.

"By Percy," George finished.

"Percy," Mrs. Weasley finished. "The same boy who is upstairs at the moment and hasn't been down here all morning?"

"Yes," George said. "He's the only Percy I know."

"I see," Mrs. Weasley said. She gave them another stern look before sighing and turning back to the stove. "I suppose I'll have to make some more."

"Yes, you'd better," George said.

Mrs. Weasley turned and sent him another stern look. "I wouldn't have to if it wasn't for you two."

"We told you it was Percy," Fred said, trying hard to contain his grin.

"You're always blaming everything on Percy," Mrs. Weasley said. "It's not going to work forever."

"What did I do this time?" Percy asked, entering the kitchen.  
>"Apparently, you stole the bacon right off the table," Mrs. Weasley answered.<p>

"Oh, of course I did," Percy said. He rolled his eyes and sat down, pulling the Daily Prophet towards him. Fred and George looked at each other. Percy was always reading the Daily Prophet. He always read a lot of anything, actually. He read more than any other eight year old that Fred and George knew. Then again, he was the only eight year old that Fred and George knew.

"That means we get to eat his bacon since he already had plenty," Fred said, while George nodded excitedly at his side.

"No way!" Percy said, looking up at once.

"I'm making enough for everyone, but if you two," Mrs. Weasley sent Fred and George a glance, "don't sit down, I'll make sure you don't get any."

"We're sitting," they said, climbing into their seats.

Mrs. Weasley put a plate of eggs and newly made bacon in front of each of the children sitting at the table. Fred and George ate quickly, Percy began eating while still looking at the newspaper and Ginny began slowing eating the pieces of bacon that her mother had cut up for her.

"Percy, when you're done, would you mind clearing the table?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Percy just shook his head. "No, I don't mind. I'll do it."

"Thank you," Mrs. Weasley said. "I need to get started on the housework." With that, she headed into the living room.

Fred and George shot each other a look. "Do you think she'll find…?" Fred began.

"I hope not," George answered.

"Fred and George Weasley!" their mother yelled from the other room.

"Run," Fred hissed. The two of them scrambled out of their chairs and were outside before their mother could yell another word.

* * *

><p>"Fred, George, go tell Bill dinner's ready," Mrs. Weasley said that night. They had picked Bill and Charlie up from the station that afternoon and now it was dinnertime. Bill had been up in his room practically all day. It was very odd. He had been fine at the station, but once they had gotten home, he had retreated to his bedroom.<p>

The twins had a race to see who could get to Bill's room first. George won by a fraction of a second and Fred aimed a playful kick at him, which George dodged.

"I wonder what's up with Bill," Fred asked, now serious.

"Well, why don't we find out?" George asked. With that, instead of knocking, he turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. Bill was sitting on his bed, chewing on a fingernail and looking at the ceiling with a slight frown on his face.

"Mum says dinner's ready," Fred said. He and George were still standing in the doorway.

"I don't understand," Bill muttered.

"Has Hogwarts made you forget what food is?" George asked. "Mum made dinner and it's ready now. You have to come eat."

"Unless you want us to eat it for you," Fred added. "We can do that."

"Or we can tell Mum you're sick," George said.

"For a Galleon," Fred said.

"Each," George added with a smirk.

Bill shook his head. "You're the most manipulative six year olds I know, but that's not it. I just don't understand—well, never mind, you're too young to get it."

"We are not young!" the twins pouted, folding their arms. They hated whenever someone wouldn't tell them something because 'they were too young'.

"Fine, well get out of the doorway, and shut the door," Bill said, gesturing for them to come in.

Fred and George did as they were told and took seats next to Bill on his bed. "So, tell us, Bill," Fred ordered.

"Well, the thing is, I like this girl-,"

"Why? Girls have cooties." George said.

Bill actually smiled. "They grow out of them."

"No, they don't. It's impossible," Fred said.

Bill gave a small laugh and shook his head. "Anyway, I like her, and we're friends, but lately she's been acting really shy and sort of, I don't know, different. I don't know, it's really a lot more complicated, but I wish things were simpler and I wish I knew how she felt about me."

"Maybe she's acting weird because you told her you liked her."

"No, but I didn't tell her. Unless she found out another way, or she just suspects it, she has no idea I like her."

"Oh," the twins said together. They really didn't know what to say.

"And I could tell her. I _was _going to, but I don't want to if she's just going to reject me."

"But you're so dashing Bill," Fred said dramatically.

Bill laughed again. "Anyway, it did feel good to talk about it, I guess, even if it was to my six year old brothers." Fred and George beamed up at him as he stood up and headed for the door. "You know, sometimes I wish you two could stay young and not have to go through any girl confusion." He turned and gave them a wink. "Now, I don't know about you, but I think mum's cooking smells delicious."

"You know, George," Fred said, as they left Bill's room and headed for the kitchen. "I think Bill's right. That confusion over a girl really messed him up. He was nearly late for dinner!"

"Yeah," George agreed. "It does seem very confusing and not very fun."

"Girls _do_ have cooties anyway," Fred said defiantly. "I know they do. Even Ginny, but we're her brothers so we're immune to her cooties."

"Mum has cooties too, I bet. I wonder if dad knows."

"Oh, he knows, but I'm sure he's immune or else he would have stayed away," Fred said knowingly. "But really, who needs girls if they leave people confused?"

"Yeah, who needs girls?" George repeated, sticking out his tongue.

"Not us," Fred said, throwing his arm around George's shoulders. "It's always going to be the two of us forever. Girls just complicate things. Let's promise right now: no girls."

"No girls," George agreed. They turned towards each other, crossed their arms at the wrist, and shook hands. Fred couldn't help but grin. Life was going to be so much easier without girls.

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><p><strong>AN: I've been working on this story for a while and I think it's about time I started posting it. I was actually for a while considering not posting it because I wasn't sure about it, but I decided to give it a try. Make sure to review and tell me what you think. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

_"It's hard to pretend you love someone when you don't, but it's harder to pretend you don't love someone when your really do." _**-Anonymous**

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><p>"I thought we promised no girls," Fred joked. He elbowed George in the ribs as they walked out to the field behind the Burrow where they usually played Quidditch. Today, it was just going to be the two of them tossing around the Quaffle for a little bit of fun and practice.<p>

George gave a small smile and an eye roll. "That was ten years ago, Fred. We were six. Honestly, it was a silly promise. You seemed to forget all about it in January when you liked Angelina."

Fred rubbed the back of his neck. It was still weird to think about that. "Yeah, but since it ended the way it did I want to stick to that promise we made. I don't care if we were six years old when we made it."

"We're friends with plenty of girls at school," George said. "Doesn't that violate the promise?"

"No," Fred shrugged. "Only if we get too involved with them."

"I see," George laughed. "Anyway, the promise was silly."

"Maybe it was," Fred said with a small shrug. George did have a point. They had both sort of forgotten about the promise as they grew up and Fred had liked a fair amount of girls over the past few years, but it had never gone anywhere. Not because of the promise, either, but just because it hadn't worked out. Nothing had gotten too confusing or complicated either. Things had just fizzled out. Except for with Angelina. He had really liked her last year, and George and Lee had told him she definitely liked him back, and Fred even thought so himself. Then, she went and started dating another boy in the year above them. Fred didn't even know who it was. The relationship had been kept secret for some reason. Nonetheless, Fred had no interest in finding out. He hadn't then and he didn't now. All he knew was that he had been crushed and embarrassed. He had come to the conclusion that girls really did complicate everything.

Then, just the day before, George had gotten his first real girlfriend, and Fred didn't know how to feel about it. He was happy of course, but he couldn't help but feel that he and George were going to grow slightly apart and he didn't want that. Maybe he was also slightly jealous that George was in a relationship and seemed to be happy, even though he had only been dating Katie Bell for twenty four hours. That's why he felt the need to bring up the promise again. It was a stupid and somewhat selfish attempt to make sure he still had his brother to himself.

"Fred," George said, stopping in his tracks and turning to face his brother. Fred knew that George knew what he was thinking. Being able to almost always know what the other was thinking and feeling could be both a curse and a blessing for them.

"What?" Fred said innocently.

"I know what you're thinking. It doesn't really have to do with that promise, and all I can say is don't worry about it. We're still going to be as close as ever. Nothing's going to change. I promise."

"Okay," Fred nodded. "I believe you." He really did. George was the person he trusted the most and he knew he wouldn't do anything that was going to hurt him or make him upset.

"Good," George said as they continued walking. "You know, you could have a girlfriend, too if you'd just stop being so scared that they're going to complicate your life beyond belief."

Fred laughed. "They do, though!" He shrugged. "I don't know. There aren't any girls I like at the moment."

"Why don't you ask Kenna out?" George asked, nudging Fred.

"Not you too," Fred groaned.

"I know everyone's been on you about what a good couple you two would make; trust me, I'll be she's hearing it from her friends as well, but it's true. You would be cute together."

"McKenna and I are just fine as friends," Fred said with a sniff.

"Didn't she tell you not to use her full name?" George joked, adjusting the Quaffle against his hip to keep it from falling.

"She's not here, is she?" Fred asked with a smirk.

"Valid point," George agreed, "but you'll be seeing her when we go back to school next week."

"Don't remind me," Fred groaned. "About school, I mean."

"Don't you want to see Kenna, though?" George teased, making a kissy face.

"Shut it, George. I do want to see her, but because she's my friend. _Our_ friend. That's all she is to me. Liking her would be like liking Ginny."

"But she's not Ginny," George argued. "She has no relation to you whatsoever, so you could date her no problem."

"I'm aware," Fred mumbled.

"You know I'm only trying to annoy you," George said with a laugh. "But I do think you would look cute together."

"Yeah, you and the rest of the world," Fred answered. "Plus, it's too soon after Angelina."

"The Angelina thing happened in January. It's been, what, seven months? You told me you were over it. You guys are okay now and she even broke up with him anyway. That other relationship she had lasted what, a month?"

Fred shrugged. "Yeah, something like that, and I am over it, but I don't want it to happen again."

"You never told Kenna about Angelina, did you?"

Fred shook his head. "You know I made you, Lee and even Angelina promise to stay quiet. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just wondering," George shrugged. "Girls really aren't that bad, you know. You remember what it was like when you liked Angelina, don't you? I mean, _really_ liked her?"

Fred hesitated. George had a point. "Yeah, I guess you're right, but I hate it when you are."

George only laughed and shrugged, but he dropped the subject, which Fred appreciated. They reached the field and mounted their brooms before taking off into the air. They flew around the field a few times and Fred's weird mood completely dissipated as he maneuvered his broom through the air.

"Want to play a quick game?" he called to George.

"Sure," George agreed.

"Ready to get your butt kicked?" Fred asked as George tossed the Quaffle in the air a few times.

"The only thing I'm ready to do is a victory dance when you lose." George smirked before tossing the Quaffle at Fred, who caught it against his chest, more than ready for their modified, two-player game of Quidditch.

For goals, they used the trees at opposite ends of the field. Each tree conveniently branched off halfway up the trunk, making them look like large letter Y's. Those trees had been really handy and mainly the reason why this field had been made the Weasley's own personal Quidditch field.

Fred and George played for what must have been an hour or two. It was a close game. Fred had even come close to falling off his broom trying to prevent George from making a goal. He had slipped sideways and had ended up dangling upside down and clinging to the broom like some kind of monkey. In the end, he had won the game, though and he was pretty proud of himself.

"If only I hadn't hesitated when you almost fell," George complained as they reached the ground again. He smiled and shook his head.

"I appreciate your concern, though. And look at it this way: now I know you love me."

"That doesn't prove anything," George answered, poking Fred in the chest.

"I think it does." Fred answered his brother in a sing-song voice before doing an odd little dance to the broom shed in order to escape George's attempt to smack him upside the head.

* * *

><p>McKenna Collins jogged ahead of her parents and younger brother, trailing her trunk behind her and stretching her neck to see above the crowd of people on Platform 9 ¾.<p>

"Slow down, McKenna," her mother said with a laugh. "The twins are around here somewhere. You'll see them eventually."

"Eventually isn't good enough," McKenna called over her shoulder as she continued to jog down the platform. Finally, she saw two familiar redheads standing not too far away and with their backs to her. With a giggle, she deserted her trunk and ran towards them, jumping onto the back of the nearest one, wrapping her legs around his stomach and her arms around his neck. "Guess who?" she giggled into his ear as he grabbed onto her legs to support her.

"Not until _you_ guess which twin I am," he answered. "I doubt you could tell from behind. No one's _that_ good."

McKenna reached forward and grabbed his chin, turning his face towards her as she leaned over his shoulder. Her dark blue eyes met his light blue ones before she continued to scan the rest of his face. She felt her stomach flutter faintly, but she ignored it. She didn't want to think about what that could possibly mean. "Fred," she answered, a proud smile spreading over her lips.

"Hm," Fred answered, looking defeated.

"You didn't think I would get it?" McKenna asked. "We've been in the same classes since we were eleven and friends since we were thirteen."

"I knew you would get it, but that was quick," Fred answered as McKenna slid from his back. "How long was it, George?"

George looked down at his watch. "Four seconds," he answered. "I for one don't think it was that quick at all. You should have been able to tell in at least one second or less, Kenna. I'm disappointed in you."

"I'm so very sorry," she answered with a laugh and a roll of her eyes. "How are you, George?" she asked as she hugged him. "I heard from Angelina all about you and Katie. I haven't seen her since you two started dating, so I'll ask you: how's it going?"

"Great," George answered.

"That's all I get? One word?"

"If you want details, go talk to Katie."

"Oh, I will," McKenna said, squinting at George. She turned back to Fred. "And what about you, Fred?"

"What about me?" he asked.

"Have you met any girls lately? Anyone you're interested in?"

"No," Fred said, shaking his head and shrugging. McKenna noticed George send Fred a look, almost a smirk. She vaguely wondered why, but decided not to say anything and instead pushed the thought to the back of her mind.

"He's keeping his promise," George joked.

"What promise?" McKenna asked.

"We made a promise when we were six to never get too involved with girls because they made life more complicated," Fred mumbled. "It was stupid."

"It does sound stupid," McKenna scoffed.

"Hey!" Fred said, nudging her.

"Well, you just said yourself that it was stupid," she argued.

"Yeah, but you weren't supposed to agree. Plus, there's some truth to what I said. Girls _do _make life more complicated a lot of the time."

"Oh, and boys don't?" McKenna argued, putting her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes.

"No," Fred and George answered at once.

McKenna rolled her eyes, but before she got a chance to say anything else, Fred grabbed her arm. "Guess what? Bill and Charlie are here. They were around for the summer because of the Quidditch World Cup."

"Yeah, you have to tell me about that. You didn't say much in your letter, and you of course know I read the paper. The Dark Mark and those Death Eaters…" she trailed off and shook her head.

"Yeah, the match itself was great, but the rest wasn't so great. We'll tell you more on the train, but right now, come meet Bill and Charlie. You've never met them."

McKenna said hello to Fred and George's parents before the twins introduced her to their two older brothers, her parents and little brother, Cody appeared.

"You left your trunk back there," Cody huffed. "And I had to bring it to you in addition to mine." Cody was fifteen and while he and McKenna usually got along great, they always seemed to be doing little things that got on each other's nerves.

"Suck it up," she answered, giving him a punch in the arm. He sent her a look so she rolled her eyes and took the handle of her trunk from him.

"You should be getting on the train," Mrs. Weasley said. "It'll be leaving soon."

There was a moment of craziness as goodbyes were said and trunks were picked up again. McKenna hugged her parents before going to stand beside Fred and George, who were saying goodbye to Charlie. "I expect I'll be seeing you sooner than you think," he was saying.

"Why?" Fred asked curiously.

"Ah, I can't say," Charlie said, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet and sticking his hands in his pockets.

"You can't do that!" Fred complained. "You can't drop hints about something and then not tell us!"

"Does this have to do with what Percy was bragging about?" George asked.

"Maybe," Bill said, "but I do know it makes me wish I was back at Hogwarts this year."

"Why, what's happening at Hogwarts?" Ron chimed in. The conversation had gotten everyone's attention now, even McKenna's. She stood between the twins trying to figure out what their brothers were talking about.

"You'll find out soon enough," Mrs. Weasley said, ushering them towards the train. "Tonight, I expect," she added.

"Tell us," George said impatiently, but Mrs. Weasley just shook her head and ushered them forward further. McKenna, Fred and George were the last ones to board the train and Fred stuck his head out the window as it started to move.

"Tell us what's happening at Hogwarts!" he yelled, but everyone just continued to wave goodbye as if they hadn't heard him. "Gits," he muttered, pulling his head back inside.

"What was Percy bragging about?" McKenna asked, reaching up to fix a piece of Fred's hair that had been messed up by the window. The others had gone on to find seats, leaving Fred, George and McKenna on their own.

"He kept letting on that he knew something, but then he would make a big show of saying that it was confidential information," Fred answered.

"I don't see why they couldn't just tell us," McKenna wondered aloud, leading the way down the train to find seats. "I mean, if we're finding out tonight anyway…" she shrugged and trailed off.

"Exactly, but it's probably some huge secret that only 'adults' can know about," George said, crinkling his nose. "Honestly, we're going to be of age soon."

"McKenna will be before us," Fred said, playfully jabbing his finger into her shoulder blade. "In fact, it's coming up really soon."

"October 3rd," she said, glancing into compartments as she tried to find an empty one.

"She's such an old lady," Fred whispered to George, trying to poke McKenna's shoulder again.

McKenna whipped around grabbed his wrist. "I heard that, and for your information, me being older means I'll get to legally use magic whenever I want before you two can."

"But you'll also get wrinkly first. You'll be a wrinkled prune while George and I still look young and handsome."

"Ha ha, you are too funny," McKenna said sarcastically. "You are only five months younger, so your wrinkles won't be too far behind."

Fred crinkled his nose at her and pulled his wrist free before turning to the compartment on the left. "Come on, Lee's in here with Katie, Alicia and Angelina. Let's go join them, shall we? I know George wants to."

"I'm not going to deny it," George shrugged. McKenna rolled her eyes and followed the twins into the compartment.

Lee and Angelina were sitting side by side with Katie across from them. All three of them looked up when McKenna, Fred and George entered. Fred and Angelina made eye contact and smiled a little shyly at each other. Things really were back to the way they had been between them, but sometimes they did feel a little awkward and shy around each other.

"Well?" Lee said at once, skipping over any and all formal greetings.

"Well what?" Fred and George asked innocently as he and Fred put their trunks on the overhead racks.

"The Quidditch World Cup?" Angelina said, leaning forward.

"Oh, that," George said as if he had forgotten all about the World Cup. His smirk said otherwise, though. He plopped down next to Katie and threw his arm around his shoulder before kissing her cheek.

McKenna hoisted her trunk onto an overhead rack before sitting down next to Angelina. Fred sat across from her, next to George.

"So, what was it like?" Lee prodded.

"It was fantastic," Fred and George said together. "Ireland won," Fred continued, "but Krum caught the Snitch, and-,"

"We know that part," Lee said, "but what we really want to hear about is the actual match and what it was like to watch, plus more about what happened after. It's completely mental, really."

McKenna stared across the compartment at the twins. She had been so nervous when she saw the paper the day after the match that she had written to the twins immediately to make sure they were okay.

George nodded. "It was scary trying to get into the woods to hide, but once Ginny, Fred and I got far enough in to be away from it all, it was fine. The only thing was that we had lost track of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. We were all supposed to be sticking together-,"

"—while dad, Bill, Charlie and Percy dealt with the whole situation," Fred continued, "but it was really chaotic. Everyone was panicking and trying to get away."

"But what do you think the Dark Mark means?" Angelina asked nervously.

"Nobody really knows," Fred shrugged.

"Well, do you know who sent it up?" McKenna asked. "The paper didn't say, but you were there."

Fred shook his head again. "Apparently, Barty Crouch's house elf was found with Harry's wand in her hand, but I don't think anyone really believes she did it. Barty Crouch freed her, though. He was embarrassed that his own house elf would even be linked to something like that."

"That's horrible," McKenna said.

"Of course that didn't make the papers," Lee piped up.

"Crouch probably wanted to keep it quiet. He didn't want to embarrass himself further," Katie said.

Everyone nodded and there were a few minutes of silence until Lee spoke up again. "Enough of the depressing news; tell us about the actual match."

"Gladly," Fred and George said together.

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><p><strong>AN: Don't forget to review! Seriously, it only takes a second and I love knowing what people think, especially since I'm not sure how I feel about this story yet so don't be afraid to review even if it's short!**


	3. Chapter 3

_"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." _**-Sarah Dessen**

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><p>"Finally," Fred said as he, McKenna and George stepped into the great hall.<p>

"Happy to be back?" McKenna asked with a smile.

"Yes, but also soon we're going to find out what's happening at Hogwarts this year."

"Can't wait to find out," McKenna said, taking a seat at the Gryffindor table. Fred took a seat next to her and George sat on Fred's other side, next to Katie.

"Can't they just hurry up with getting the first years sorted?" Fred mumbled into McKenna's ear, bouncing slightly in his seat.

"Fred, relax, you'll be finding out soon enough."

"You know I'm not the most patient person in the world," Fred replied, resting his elbow on the table and his cheek on his hand. He sat in that position and just looked at his friend. She certainly was pretty, that was for sure. He had always thought so, but he had just never _really _thought about it until now. Besides that, they had been friends for three years and known each other for five, so they had a pretty close relationship. Fred thought that maybe he could like her, but then again, she was his _friend_. Everything George had been saying was simply going to Fred's head. That was all.

"Will you quit staring? Trust me, the Sorting is a lot more interesting than I am."

Fred snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head as if clearing his ears of water. McKenna was looking at him strangely, a mix of confusion and amusement on her face. She tilted her head towards the front of the room, where, sure enough, Professor McGonagall was placing the Sorting Hat on a stool. "Sorry," Fred said. "I was thinking."

"Looked like something serious," McKenna whispered. Her eyes were on the sorting now, but Fred could see the candlelight reflecting off of the deep blue color. He shook his head wildly again.

"It wasn't that serious," he said. "It was nothing, actually."

"It really didn't look like nothing. You were completely zoned out. Any second, I expected drool to come out of your mouth."

Fred quickly checked the tabletop just to double check and make sure that he hadn't drooled. That would have been the worst. He shrugged and turned his eyes back to the front. One of the first years had just gotten Sorted into Gryffindor, so Fred clapped, but instead of cheering, he leaned over to McKenna. "It was nothing. Promise."

"Okay," she said, shrugging. "Whatever you say."

"Yeah," Fred teased, "whatever I say."

"Shut it," she answered.

When the Sorting was finally over, the food appeared in the middle of each of the four house tables, as usual.

"I was hoping they'd tell us what's going on before we ate," George said.

"Care to explain?" Lee asked from across the table. Katie, Alicia and Angelina nodded in agreement.

"Oh, our brothers and Mum were dropping a few hints that something big is happening at Hogwarts this year," Fred said, filling his glass with pumpkin juice and taking a sip.

"What is it?" Lee asked.

"We don't know," George said impatiently. "If we did, we'd have told you already. It's been driving us crazy all day."

"They're incredibly impatient," McKenna chimed in.

"We know," Lee, Angelina and Katie said together.

Finally, after the last of the food had disappeared, Dumbledore stood up and the room fell silent. "Welcome," he began. "Before you all go off to your dormitories, I'd like to make a few announcements. Firstly, Mr. Filch has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has been extended this year to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list contains-,"

"Four hundred and thirty seven items," Fred whispered into McKenna's ear, a grin spreading over his face.

"—four hundred and thirty seven items," Dumbledore finished.

"How do you-?" McKenna began, looking at Fred with wide eyes.

"George and I know these things," Fred answered with a smirk. "We have to be familiar with what's banned so that we can use them, anonymously, of course. We haven't been caught once."

"Naturally," McKenna whispered.

"The full list," Dumbledore was saying, "can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it. I would also like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is off limits to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

Fred vaguely noticed McKenna's eyes shoot to his. He was too busy turning to look at George as protests could be heard throughout the room, mainly by members of the Quidditch teams.

"This," Dumbledore continued, "is due to an event that will be starting in October and continuing throughout the school year. It will take up much of the teachers' time and energy, but I am sure you will enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-,"

"This is it," McKenna whispered, nudging Fred.

Fred's brain was still trying to catch up. He had just been disappointed by the news that there would be no Quidditch and now Dumbledore was moving directly into the news that Fred had been waiting so long to hear. Then, before Dumbledore could finish speaking, the door to the great hall banged open loudly. Everyone turned their eyes from Dumbledore to the doorway, where a man was standing.

"Oh my goodness," McKenna breathed. Fred could feel her breath on his neck, but he kept his eyes on the man in the doorway. He had a long, wooden staff, and a black cloak, but those weren't the cause for everyone's staring. The man's face was heavily scarred, it looked like a chunk of his nose was missing, and he had a large, fake, blue eye in the place of one of his real eyes. The fake eye was spinning rapidly in the socket and it eventually spun right back into the man's head, showing nothing but whiteness.

"Who is he?" Angelina whispered as the man began to walk, or limp, rather, towards Dumbledore.

As he watched the man, Fred saw McKenna out of the corner of his eye shake her head in response to Angelina's question, but then she gasped and whipped her head around to look at the staff table.

"What is it?" Fred asked, turning in his seat so that he was facing her instead of the other way.

"There isn't a new teacher sitting at the staff table," McKenna said, turning to look at him again. "He must be our new Defense teacher." Lee, Katie, George, Angelina and Alicia were watching her as well and their eyes widened as they realized she was right.

Fred looked over her shoulder to the staff table and his eyes scanned the seats. There wasn't a single new face, except for the man who had just walked in, of course, who was now shaking Dumbledore's hand. Dumbledore gestured for the man to sit down at an empty seat at the staff table, which the man did.

"I would like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Dumbledore said once the man had sat down. "Professor Moody." He gestured to the newly occupied seat as the man, Professor Moody, gave a small nod.

"Moody," Fred said thoughtfully. He looked at George. "Mad-Eye Moody?"

"Yeah, must be," George said, nodding.

"Do you know him?" McKenna asked curiously. Fred could see the surprise on her face.

"Not personally. I've never actually met him, I mean, but my father had to go help him this morning. Apparently, Mad-Eye thought he heard intruders in his yard, but it was really a bunch of enchanted dustbins or something like that," Fred whispered.

"Heard he's a nutter," George chimed in.

"Wonderful," McKenna said, rolling her eyes.

"He's an incredible Auror, though," Fred added, his eyes watching the staff table. "Half the cells in Azkaban are filled because of him."

Before McKenna could answer, Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued to speak. "As I was saying, we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're joking!" Fred yelled. The words slipped out before he could stop them. He couldn't believe it, though. Bill had told him all about the Triwizard Tournament a few years ago after he read about it in a library book. Now it was actually being held at Hogwarts and Fred would be there to witness it, or even _participate_ in it.

Everyone in the room burst into laughter and Dumbledore chuckled. "I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar…"

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, putting an end to Dumbledore's off topic rant. "But now is probably not the time," he said quickly. "Where was I? Oh, yes, the Triwizard Tournament. Some of you may not know what this tournament is, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation and allow their attention to wander freely."

Already knowing all about the tournament, Fred was more than happy to take Dumbledore's advice. He rested his chin on his hand again and looked up and down the table until his eyes fell on McKenna. For the second time that night, he found himself staring absentmindedly at her. She was staring at Dumbledore, a fascinated look on her face and her head tilted to one side. Her light brown, almost blonde hair was falling out of her ponytail and framing her face. Why couldn't Fred stop looking at her all of a sudden? He wished people would have never planted the seed in his head about the two of them making a cute couple.

"What?" McKenna gasped suddenly.

"Huh?" Fred asked, jumping. He had definitely missed something.

"Don't tell me you were zoning out again," McKenna said.

"Well, Dumbledore did say-," Fred began.

"Never mind that," McKenna said. "He just said that the tournament was discontinued years ago because people died."

"Oh, yeah, Bill mentioned something about that," Fred said. "That's mostly why I was so surprised that Hogwarts is hosting it."

"That doesn't worry you?" McKenna asked.

"Not really," Fred said. "If they're reinstating it this year, then they're going to make extra sure that nothing bad can happen, right?"

"I guess so," McKenna said slowly.

Dumbledore continued to explain that students from two other schools, along with the heads of those schools, would be arriving in October and the selection of three champions—one from each school—would take place on Halloween. The champions would compete for the Triwizard Cup and a thousand Galleons prize money.

"I'm going to go for it!" Fred whispered to his friends. He turned back to McKenna with the sudden urge to impress her. "What do you think? I'm going to do it!"

"I don't know, Fred," she said hesitantly. "It sounds pretty dangerous to me."

"It's a lot safer than it was back then," Fred assured her excitedly. "The teachers wouldn't let anything happen."

"Still…" McKenna began. "I just don't like the sound of it."

Fred felt a slight irritation at her words. He clamped his mouth shut and turned to look at Dumbledore again.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," the headmaster was saying, "the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age, that is to say, seventeen years of age or older, will be allowed to put their name forward for consideration. This is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take and it is highly unlikely that students under seventeen will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no under-age student tricks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion."

"What?" Fred cried. He wasn't the only one, either. George was voicing his opinions as well as many other students who had most likely wanted to enter but were falling short of the age limit.

"That's rubbish!" George cried. "Fred and I are seventeen in April! Why can't we have a shot?"

"It's not going to stop me from entering," Fred said stubbornly.

"It should," McKenna said.

"Kenna," Fred pleaded. "Come on, the champions get to do so many things that we'd never be allowed to do normally and a thousand Galleons prize money!"

"But Dumbledore said that anyone under seventeen wouldn't be prepared enough," McKenna argued.

"I'll be seventeen in April. I don't think seven months will make a difference."

"Well, Dumbledore seems to think it will. Anyway, you won't be seventeen by Halloween and Dumbledore said he had a way to make sure no one underage could enter," McKenna said. Fred noticed the relief and satisfaction in her voice and he felt even more irritated at this, until he got a sudden idea.

"But _you_ will be!" he said, excitement growing inside of him again. "Angelina as well!" He turned to look at Angelina, who looked thoughtful, as if she were really considering entering.

"What are you getting at?" McKenna asked.

Fred turned back to her. "You can enter!"

While they were talking, Dumbledore had dismissed the students, and Fred stood up as he waited for McKenna's reaction. She stayed in her seat and simply stared at him. Fred held out his hand and she took it, allowing him to pull her to her feet. She never tore her eyes away and when she was standing, she finally shook her head. "No, I won't do it."

"What? Why not?" Fred asked.

"I don't want to," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms. "And I don't want you trying to be daring and crazy through me, so no, I won't do it." She brushed past him and headed for the entrance hall.

"Kenna," Fred pleaded again, chasing after her, George right behind him. "Doesn't the tournament sound the least bit interesting to you?"

"Maybe to watch, but I expect it isn't as fun when you're performing these dangerous tasks that have killed people in the past. I also don't think it would be fun," she began, spinning on her heel to face him, causing Fred to bump into her and grab her arm to steady himself, "to watch someone you really care about go through that."

"Are you saying you really care about us?" Fred asked as George smirked beside him.

McKenna blushed and blinked a few times, before she quickly recovered. "You know I do," she said, narrowing her eyes. The three of them continued towards the Gryffindor common room in silence for a few moments before Fred spoke up again.

"You know, George, I reckon a few drops of Aging Potion might do it."

"You can't be serious?" McKenna asked, glaring at them. "I thought you weren't going to try to get in."

"When did we ever say that?" Fred teased. His grin slid from his face when he saw McKenna's expression.

"You can't enter!" she said. "Plus, even if the Aging Potion worked, Dumbledore knows you aren't of age."

"Yeah, but he doesn't decide who the champion is," Fred answered. "Sounds to me like once this judge knows who wants to enter, he'll choose the best from each school and never mind how old they are. Dumbledore's trying to stop us giving our names."

"Oh, for the fun of it?" McKenna asked. "Just for a laugh? People have died, Fred!"

"That was ages ago! We only need to age ourselves to be a few months older," Fred said, his voice rising. "We're old enough to handle this!"

"How do you know?" McKenna asked, her voice rising to match his.

"I just do!" Fred argued back. "We've nearly had enough schooling and we've had a lot of experience with pranks-,"

"Like that will help," McKenna scoffed.

Fred glared at her. He didn't even care that George was staring at them with wide eyes or that they were arguing in the middle of a staircase. All he knew was that he had wanted to win the prize money more than anything to put towards opening the joke shop that he and George wanted to run. This would be a way to get the money. It was their only chance to get the money. Besides that, he wanted McKenna to be proud of him. He didn't know why this had come about all of a sudden, but he wanted her approval and he wanted her to notice him, _really_ notice him. He wanted to be more than the class clown and the goofy prankster.

McKenna shook her head at him and continued up the stairs. Fred glanced at George before they both followed her. They reached the portrait hole before she finally spun to face them once again. "I don't know why this isn't getting through to you, but the tournament was cancelled for years for a reason. These tasks have killed people. I don't know what they are, but I don't want you to participate in something you aren't ready for. I don't want you to—to-,"

"Kenna," Fred whispered, reaching out to comfortingly grab her shoulder.

"Just forget it," she whispered back, turning to the portrait hole. She paused and bit her lip, but didn't turn around. Fred realized she didn't know the password. He didn't either, for that matter. He would have laughed at the predicament if he wasn't feeling an odd mix of anger and confusion.

"The password's 'balderdash'," George said. "A prefect downstairs told me." As he said the word, the portrait swung forward, revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

"Thanks," McKenna whispered, hurrying through the hole. Fred immediately followed her, but by the time he got inside, McKenna was already hurrying up to the girl's dormitory.

"Is there a chance that what I said over the summer is true after all?" George asked, stepping up next to Fred.

"No," Fred said, shaking his head and trying to keep his voice confident and sure of himself, even though he was really confused. "I want to win the money for the shop, not to impress her."

"What about for both reasons?"

"No, just for the shop," Fred said.

"Okay, if you're sure," George said, but Fred could hear the doubt in his voice and it made him nervous. He was nervous that George might have actually been right after all.

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><p><strong>AN: Don't forget to leave a review! It would really mean a lot!**


	4. Chapter 4

_"Sometimes you pick your friends and sometimes they pick you."_

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><p>The next morning, McKenna woke up and spent a few minutes just laying in bed and thinking. She thought mostly of the night before. The argument she had gotten into with Fred was somewhat silly, but she really didn't want him to possibly have a chance at being in this tournament. She wouldn't be able to handle it if he or George died. It was already bad enough that Angelina had told McKenna before they went to bed that she had decided to enter. Angelina had been her best friend since first year, and Fred and George had been her best guy friends since third year. She tried to tell herself that it was solely their close friendship that made her nervous for them, but she really wasn't sure if that was the case, at least where Fred was concerned.<p>

She thought back to the moment at King's Cross when she felt the butterflies in her stomach and wondered if it were possible that she could like Fred. She had never really given the possibility much thought before, but she supposed it made sense. They had known each other for a while and got along extremely well. She knew him better than anyone else did, except maybe George. On the other hand, she wasn't sure if she wanted to like anyone right now. Not after what had happened over the summer. Only Angelina knew what had happened. Plus, what if something happened or went wrong with Fred and their friendship was ruined? That would be horrible.

Sighing, McKenna rolled out of bed and started getting ready. The last thing she wanted was to be late for her first day of classes.

When she finally headed down the stairs to the common room, she began to wonder if everything was okay between her and Fred. She didn't know if they were still fighting or not. She knew she wasn't angry at him anymore, but maybe he was still angry at her. They had never gotten into an actual fight before. They had had little arguments, but the one last night had definitely been the worst, and it hadn't even been that bad. McKenna hated to think what would happen if they ever got into any worse arguments.

"Kenna!" a voice called from behind her as she was reaching the portrait hole. She turned to see Fred jogging towards her.

"Fred?" she asked hopefully, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Do you want to go down to breakfast together?" he asked, looking just as hopeful as she did.

"Uh, sure," she said, shrugging. "Where's George?"

"He's already down there with Katie," Fred answered quickly.

"Oh," McKenna said, nodding.

They stood there silently for a moment before Fred stepped forward and pushed open the portrait. "After you," he said.

"Thanks," she whispered.

They started down the hall together. Fred had his hands in his pockets and McKenna was nervously picking at her thumb while she stared at the ground. "Are we-?" she began, stopping and finally turning to actually look at Fred.

"Okay?" he finished, stopping to look at her as well.

"Yeah," she said with a small laugh, brushing a strand of her wavy hair behind her ear.

Fred nodded. "I wouldn't have asked you to go down to breakfast if we weren't," he said.

"Are you still thinking of entering?" she asked tentatively.

Fred looked up at the ceiling. "George and I have our reasons for entering. Of course, my reason may be slightly different than George's, but I haven't really worked that out yet."

"What?" McKenna asked, confused.

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Just, please, I don't really want to explain it right now, but there is a reason for why we're trying to enter."

"What aren't you telling me?" she asked. "We've never kept huge secrets from each other."

"I will tell you sometime," he said, "just not now."

"Fred," she began.

He simply shook his head. "Not now."

"If you enter," she said, "and you somehow manage to fool this judge, and you end up competing, I want you to promise me that you will be careful. Don't get yourself killed, Fred." She whispered the last sentence.

Fred reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "I won't. Don't worry about a thing," he said. They started walking again and he continued. "You have to admit, wouldn't you be excited to watch me or George compete in these tasks?"

"I guess," she said. "I mean, I would be proud, but terrified."

"So you would be proud of me?" he asked.

"What? Yeah, I would. Why do you ask?"

Fred just shook his head and mumbled something that sounded like 'why I need to enter.' "No reason," he said more clearly.

"So, Angelina's entering," McKenna said, changing the subject.

"Yeah," Fred answered, "but I don't understand why you won't."

"I don't want to," she said forcefully.

"Fine, have it your way," Fred said, raising his hands defensively. "Anyway, it's good to know another Gryffindor is entering. Legally, anyway."

"Yeah," McKenna sighed.

They reached the great hall, and took a seat across from George and Katie. Professor McGonagall was just passing out the schedules. "Switch," Fred demanded, snatching McKenna's schedule away from her only a moment after she had received it. He handed her his own schedule and she smiled as she noticed they had all the same classes. They had been in the exact same classes every year since third year. Before that, they had had only a few classes together here and there. In fact, their matching schedules had ended up causing them to become friends. Sort of, anyway.

McKenna had been sitting in the common room, doing her homework, when the twins had taken a seat on either side of her, and without a single greeting, asked if they could do their homework together. McKenna had been surprised since they hadn't really talked before then, but she agreed. The twins must have seen her surprise and confusion, though, because it was the first thing they addressed after she agreed to their preposition to do homework together.

"I know you're surprised, but we've noticed something," Fred had said.

"You're in every one of our classes," George continued.

"We've never had that happen with anyone besides each other before, not even Lee," Fred said.

"Oh." McKenna hadn't known what else to say except, "I'm-,"

"—McKenna Collins," Fred said. "We know who you are."

"We do pay attention in class," George began.

"When we want to," Fred had finished with a smile. "And we pay attention enough to notice that you're in all of our classes and that you seem very nice and smart, so we want to be your friend."

"I'm guessing you also pay attention to realize whose cauldrons you blow up in Potions?" she asked.

"You remembered!" George gasped. "Yeah, we did yours last week. This week it's that Slytherin, Montague's turn."

"I'm already awful at Potions," she said. "Snape gave me a zero and a detention for that and I really can't afford to do poorly in that class."

"It's one zero, relax," Fred had said. "George and I have gotten plenty of zeros before and plenty of detentions, but we've never failed. That's because-,"

"—we always know exactly where the line is in order not to cross it," George finished.

"So will you help us?" Fred asked. "George and I can even help you with your Potions homework in return."

"Is the whole being my friend thing just a way to get help with your homework?" McKenna asked. "Because if you're using me-,"

"Of course not," George had interrupted.

"I will hurt you," McKenna finished, her eyes narrowed.

"There won't be any need. We just want to be your friend," Fred had said. And that's what they had been ever since.

"Hey, who's zoning out now?" McKenna snapped out of her trance to see Fred waving his hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, what?" she asked.

"Here's your schedule back. I'm guessing you've noticed we have all the same classes together, as usual."

"How will I ever survive?" McKenna asked, shaking her head.

"How will _you _survive?" George asked. "The better question is how _we_ are going to survive." He gestured to himself and Fred. "You're a horrible classmate."

"Which is why you wanted to randomly be my friend in third year," McKenna said, rolling her eyes.

"It wasn't random," Fred said. "We had every class together and you were best friends with Angelina and so were we, yet we didn't really know you, so we thought we ought to introduce ourselves. Plus, you were nice and smart—you still are—and we really did need help with our homework."

"You don't have to kiss up to me," McKenna teased. "Just because we had a little argument last night doesn't mean you have to give me all these compliments."

"It's true," Fred argued. "You are nice and smart and you love to laugh, which is always a big plus, for me at least, and you're-,"

"Wow, Freddie," George said with a smirk. "You really are on a roll with the compliments this morning." He smirked, causing Fred to blush, but he hid it quickly as George continued speaking. "I hope you're saving some to use on me, the more handsome twin, later."

"Seems like you're complimenting yourself enough for the both of us," Fred answered.

George stuck out his tongue as McKenna giggled and rolled her eyes. She was glad things were okay between her and Fred again. The last thing she wanted was to not be speaking with him, especially at the beginning of the school year.

"Well," Fred said after they had finished eating. "It's Transfiguration first. Are we ready to begin another exciting year at Hogwarts?" He held out his arm to McKenna and she looped her arm through his.

"More than ready," she said with a smile. She heard George disguise something in a cough from behind them. She didn't catch what he said, but apparently Fred did. He turned and sent George a glance and shook his head ever so slightly. "What was that, George?" McKenna asked, turning to face him. He looked at her innocently and swung his and Katie's intertwined hands back and forth.

"It was nothing, Kenna," Fred said. "Come on, let's go. We don't want a detention from McGonagall on the first day. Even _I_ think the first day of school is too early to be getting detentions."

"Oh, well we certainly can't have that then," McKenna joked.

"Stop it," Fred laughed, nudging her.

"No, you stop," she said.

"No, you," he said.

"Old married couple," George said from behind them in a sing song voice.

"Shut up," Fred sing-songed back as McKenna giggled.

* * *

><p>By dinner time, McKenna felt exhausted. She had always felt the first day of school exhausting and she figured most students could agree with her. They had gone from a relaxing summer break to waking up early and dashing around an ancient castle to get to classes where they were given homework, something everyone dreaded.<p>

"I can't believe McGonagall gave us this much homework on the first day," George groaned as they approached the front staircase on their way to dinner.

"Welcome back to school," McKenna teased. She was walking in between Fred and George. Katie was on George's other side and Angelina, Alicia and Lee were behind them.

"Want to do our homework together later on?" Fred whispered into McKenna's ear.

She giggled. "If this is just a way to get your homework done," she teased, "I will hurt you."

"You threatened to do that in third year, and yet I'm still fine," Fred answered.

McKenna punched his shoulder. "Now you're not," she laughed as Fred's hand flew to his shoulder and he let out a small, mumbled, "Ouch."

Her laughter dwindled to a stop when she heard a loud, obnoxious, familiar voice coming from the entrance hall. "Weasley, hey, Weasley!"

Fred and George both looked over the staircase railing, but the voice, belonging to Draco Malfoy, wasn't talking to them. McKenna joined Fred and George at the banister to see Ron turn around to face Malfoy, who was standing with Crabbe and Goyle, a smirk on his face.

"What?" Ron asked impatiently.

"What's Malfoy up to now?" Lee groaned.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" Malfoy said, waving a copy of the Daily Prophet in the air and speaking loudly, so that everyone could hear.

"Your dad was in the paper?" McKenna hissed to Fred and George. "What for?"

"We didn't know he was, but it probably has to do with the World Cup," George said.

Fred shook his head. "It wouldn't be about that. It's probably about Mad-Eye and his dustbins."

"Listen to this," Malfoy cried. He straightened the paper out in his hand and cleared his throat as he began to read. "'It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office'."

"_Arnold_?" George asked.

"Seriously?" Fred rolled his eyes.

Malfoy was looking back at Ron, now. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" He smirked and continued to read. "'Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers, or 'policemen,' over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of 'Mad-Eye' Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene'."

"I don't believe it," Fred said. "Malfoy's really going to make a big deal out of this."

"It's Malfoy, what do you expect?" McKenna hissed.

"Look, there's a picture, Weasley!" Malfoy said, looking thrilled at the opportunity to further make fun of the Weasley family. "There's a picture of your parents outside their house. If you can call it a house, of course. Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury, but McKenna didn't have time to focus on him because Fred and George had pushed away from the banister and were running the rest of the way down the stairs. McKenna shot a wide-eyed glance at her other friends before running after the twins and grabbing their arms. "Hold on," she said, "just wait."

"McKenna," Fred said, trying to pull away from her. "He's not going to say that and get away with it."

"You can't get involved, or else you'll get in trouble, too." She held onto their arms tighter.

"You know, you're very strong," George said, straining to pull away.

McKenna didn't say anything, but continued to make sure they couldn't attack Malfoy.

"Go away, Malfoy," Harry said, grabbing Ron's arm. Hermione grabbed his other arm and they made to turn away, but Malfoy spoke up again.

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter? So, tell me, is his mother really that porky or is it just the picture?"

Fred and George tried to pull away from McKenna again. Half of the people standing in the entrance hall were looking at them and the other half at Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy.

"Stop," McKenna hissed.

"Kenna," Fred growled. "Let go. I'm going to hit him."

"No, you can't."

"He's insulting my family."

"I know, but please," she begged.

"You know _your _mother, Malfoy?" Harry asked. "That expression she's got like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that or was it just because you were with her?"

Fred and George both stopped struggling against McKenna and stared at Harry with expressions of near laughter on their faces.

Malfoy's face paled, "Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter," he snapped.

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," Harry said, grabbing Ron and turning away again.

Everyone screamed as Malfoy raised his wand and shot a spell at Harry that just missed him. McKenna found herself latching tighter onto Fred's arm.

"You're cutting of the circulation to a perfectly good, very muscular arm," he said into her ear.

"Muscular?" she teased. "I don't think so."

Fred rolled his eyes but didn't get to say anything else because Mad-Eye Moody was charging into the entrance hall with his wand in the air. It happened so fast, McKenna wasn't completely sure how it had happened, but one minute, Malfoy had been standing there, his eyes wide and in the next second, a white ferret was in his place.

The entrance hall was thrown into complete silence. McKenna slowly released Fred and George's arms. They were all completely still as they stared at the ferret.

"Did he get you?" Moody asked, breaking the silence. McKenna looked up to see him addressing Harry.

"No, he missed," Harry said.

"Leave it!" Moody suddenly yelled. McKenna jumped again at the outburst, loud in the silent entrance hall.

"Leave what?" Harry asked.

"Not you—him!" Moody answered, pointing over his shoulder at Crabbe, who was attempting to pick up the ferret.

"He can see through the back of his head!" Fred hissed. McKenna nodded. She had just realized the same thing.

Malfoy the ferret tried to run off towards the dungeons, but Moody pointed his wand at him again. The ferret flew into the air before hitting the floor and rising up again. "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back is turned," Moody growled as the ferret bounced higher and higher. "It's a stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do."

"Professor Moody!" cried a shocked voice. McKenna turned around to see Professor McGonagall on the staircase, holding a stack of books.

"Hello," Moody said calmly, continuing to bounce the ferret against the floor.

"What are you doing?" McGonagall asked.

"I'm teaching," he answered.

"Is that—is that a student?" Professor McGonagall asked, paling.

"Technically, it's a ferret," Moody answered. He bounced the ferret so high, it almost touched the ceiling.

Professor McGonagall let the books tumble from her arms as she pulled out her wand. She ran down the stair case and within a second, Malfoy was laying on the ground, looking quite disheveled. "We never use Transfiguration as a punishment," McGonagall scolded. "Surely Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've," Moody shrugged.

"We give out detentions," Professor McGonagall told him. "Or speak to the offender's head of house."

"I'll do that then." He looked at Draco. "Your head of house would be Snape?"

"Yes," Malfoy said.

Moody nodded. "It looks like I'll be having a chat with Snape, then. Come on." He roughly grabbed Malfoy's arm and they headed for the dungeons.

"Everybody into the great hall," Professor McGonagall said, summoning her fallen books into her arms with her wand. "Move along."

The noise of voices steadily grew louder as the students filed into the great hall, talking wildly about what had just happened.

"That was brilliant," George said, sighing.

"A lot better than beating him up," Fred added.

"Yeah, thanks for holding us back, Kenna," George said.

"See? It was worth it, just like I said," she smirked.

"I want to fix that in my mind forever," Ron said as he, Harry and Hermione found seats next to them. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret."

"I believe he makes a better ferret than a human," Fred smirked, nudging McKenna, who grinned up at him as she felt those butterflies again.

"He certainly does," she agreed as she helped herself to her dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

_"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." _**-Mother Teresa**

* * *

><p>"Moody, how cool is he," Fred said the next night, collapsing onto the couch next to McKenna. George was at a table in the corner with Katie. Lee and Angelina were sitting on the floor at McKenna's feet, and Harry and Ron were sitting in the chairs by the fire. Hermione was at the library, which wasn't a surprise.<p>

"Beyond cool," Lee agreed from the floor.

"We had him this afternoon," McKenna said, glancing at Harry and Ron, who had looked up after Fred's comment.

"What was it like?" asked Harry.

"Never had a lesson like it," Fred said, throwing his arm around the back of the couch. McKenna froze for a second before relaxing. She had thought for a second that he was going to put his arm around her. Not that he would do that, though. He had no reason to and she had no reason to want him to. She was just being silly.

"He _knows_," Lee said in a whisper.

"Knows what?" Ron asked, leaning forward.

"Knows what it's like to be out there _doing _it," Fred answered.

"Doing what?" Harry asked. McKenna had to laugh at their fascination.

"Fighting the Dark Arts," Lee said.

"He's seen it all," Angelina added.

"Amazing," said Lee.

Harry and Ron were completely still and quiet as they processed the information. Suddenly, Ron plunged his hand into his bag for his schedule. "We don't have him until Thursday," he groaned.

"Ooh, tough, little brother," Fred teased.

"Fred," McKenna warned, letting out a small giggle.

"What?" he asked.

"Be nice," she said, smiling.

"I am nice. All the time."

"Of course you are," she said, shaking her head.

"You know," Fred said in a teasing voice. "We didn't see each other all summer. Maybe your image of me got a little tarnished."

"Well it's not my fault we didn't see each other," she said.

"Yes it is," Fred argued.

"It's both of our faults," she compromised.

"I guess so," he said. "I mean, we just never mentioned getting together in our letters."

"It just never came up," she said.

"Strange," Fred muttered. "I guess we were just preoccupied with things." He didn't miss Angelina glance up quickly at him and frown before looking down at her homework once more. She probably thought Fred was talking about her, but he had actually been talking about the Bagman incident. Angelina didn't know about that, though. No one did, except George.

"I sure was," McKenna said thoughtfully, thinking back to the events of the summer. It had started out wonderful, but then turned out not so wonderful.

"Kenna?" Angelina asked from the floor. Her eyebrows were raised and McKenna knew they were thinking the same thing.

"I'm okay," McKenna said, answering Angelina's unvoiced question. She turned back to Fred. "What were _you_ preoccupied with?"

Fred shrugged. "The World Cup, inventions, things like that. What about you?" He raised an eyebrow curiously.

McKenna swallowed and looked back at Angelina who gave her a sympathetic look. "Just things," she answered.

"Are you going to elaborate?" Fred asked.

She shook her head. "You didn't really elaborate on the reason why you want to enter the tournament so badly. So, we're even. When you can tell me, then I'll tell you."

Fred just looked at her. McKenna could see his eyes on her face, but she kept her own eyes on her textbook. She really just wanted to get off the subject of her summer break. "Okay," Fred finally whispered. He removed his arm from the back of the couch and stood up. McKenna found herself wishing he would sit back down. "I'll see you all later, then," Fred said, heading off to join George and Katie.

"That was awkward," Lee said.

"No, it wasn't," McKenna argued.

"You've never been that awkward around each other," Lee pressed on. "I've never seen so much awkward tension in my life."

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad," Angelina said, swatting him.

"Do any of you know why he wants to enter so badly?" McKenna asked as she looked across the room at Fred.

"They want to open a joke shop," Lee explained. "The prize money will help them be able to do that."

"Well, I've always figured they wanted to open one," McKenna began, "but Fred could have just said that. I feel like there's more to it."

"Well, then I expect the only person who does know is George," Lee said. "Fred hasn't even said anything to me about any additional reasoning. All he asked if I was interested in entering if they can get an Aging Potion brewed up."

"And what did you say?" Angelina asked.

"Yes, of course," Lee replied. "I don't know about their reasoning, but I think it would be great to compete."

McKenna just pursed her lips and sighed. She saw Katie heading over to them and smiled at her. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Fred wanted to talk to George alone," Katie said, with a small shrug.

"Why?" McKenna asked curiously.

"He didn't say," she answered. "It's something important, though."

McKenna looked over at Fred and George sitting at the table in the corner. She wondered what they were talking about. It seemed very secretive, so it couldn't be about entering the tournament. Everyone knew they were trying to figure out a way to enter. It was all very frustrating. Fred and George were two of McKenna's best friends and lately she was feeling as if they were keeping a lot of things from her. Not that she had the right to say that, because she was keeping something from them as well, but it was something stupid. The only reason why she wasn't telling them was because it would be awkward. She sighed and went back to her homework again, but she couldn't keep her mind focused. She felt worried, slightly hurt and confused.

* * *

><p>"We've got to start figuring out what to do about Bagman, George," Fred said, joining his brother at the table in the corner.<p>

"Have you told McKenna about that?" George asked.

"No," Fred answered, shaking his head.

"And you haven't told her about the Angelina thing, either?"

"No," Fred said. "Why would I? That was way back in January. It would look weird telling her now. Plus, why would she care?"

"You liked her best friend," George said. "She'd want to know."

"More happened than me just liking her. We all thought Angelina liked me, but then she went and dated that other guy."

"She apologized for letting you think she returned the feelings," George said, "and she hadn't told McKenna about it either."

"Good, because if you remember, I told you all to be quiet."

"It's McKenna we're talking about," George said, rolling his eyes. "Although, I think if she does find out, she'll be angrier at Angelina than at you."

"Good, so I don't have to worry about it," Fred said.

"So, why haven't you told her about the Bagman thing?" George raised an eyebrow.

"For the same reason I haven't told her the reason we want to enter the tournament. It's embarrassing," Fred said.

"Ah, your reason is slightly different than mine, though, so what haven't you told her and what part of it is embarrassing?"

"All of it," Fred said, "to both questions. I haven't told her I might have feelings for her and that I want to enter the tournament so that she'll be proud of me and think I'm smart and can do things besides prank people. I haven't told her that we have no money of our own to open up our joke shop and that our parents can't afford to help us, not that we would ask anyway, and I haven't told her that we bet on the World Cup outcome with Bagman and he ripped us off."

"You know she hates being lied to," George said.

"I'm not lying to her. I'm just not telling her a lot of stuff."

"She doesn't like that either. She's one of our best friends. Shouldn't we be open with her?"

"Do _you _want to tell her that we were stupid enough to bet our entire savings with Ludo Bagman and stupid enough to believe his leprechaun gold was real? Do you want to tell her that we gambled away all of our savings and have absolutely no money to do what we've been dreaming of since we were children?"

"Well it all sounds worse when you put it like that," George said, "but McKenna won't judge us. Maybe I'll tell her myself if you won't."

"Don't," Fred said quickly. George raised his eyebrows and Fred sighed. "Look, I'll tell her eventually, because I'm going to have to sort out my feelings about her and if it turns out I do like her, I'll have to tell her that, too."

"If it turns out you like her?" George repeated. "Do you or don't you?"

"I don't know," Fred said, playing with a quill lying on the table.

George pulled the quill away and folded his arms on the table. "I'm going to tell you what I think of this situation," he said. "I know you were taken with her in third year. You-,"

"I was not," Fred protested.

"Let me finish," George said, holding up a hand. "You definitely had some attraction to her, if I remember correctly what you told me. I don't think it ever turned into a full blown crush on her because you were a little too satisfied with just being best friends with her. Now, all of a sudden, you care about what she thinks of you, you're embarrassed to tell her things, and I catch you staring at her at the most random times, like _now_ for instance. Fred, are you listening?"

"Yes, I heard everything," Fred said, drawing his eyes away from McKenna. He swallowed. "I think you might be right."

"Might be?" George smirked.

"Alright, you are," Fred said, covering his face with his hands. "You're right. I just didn't want to admit I liked her because she's McKenna and—and-,"

"You didn't want to give the rest of us the satisfaction of being right about you two."

Fred lowered his hands from his face and narrowed his eyes at George. "Shut it, don't make this worse."

"How is this even bad in the first place?" George asked. "You like McKenna, that's great! She'd be great for you and you're actually moving on from being hurt about the Angelina thing."

"No, it's not great, because I'm almost certain she doesn't like me."

"Then get her to," George prodded.

Fred groaned. "I can't."

"You can," George said, whacking Fred with his textbook, "and you will. Now, get up and go back over and talk to her."

"There's no time. We have to figure out how to get Bagman to give us our money back," Fred said. "I mean, he ignored our first two letters. He's avoiding us. I don't think it was a mistake that he gave us leprechaun gold."

"Neither do I," George said. "So, we're going to have to keep bugging him until he gives in or until we get a reasonable explanation as to why he did it. That's what we're going to do. Does it answer your question? I believe it does, now go talk to McKenna."

Fred sent George a look before sighing and standing up. As he did so, he saw McKenna approaching their table. "I'm going to bed," she said with a small wave.

"No, you can't!" Fred said.

"Why?" she asked. "I'm tired."

"I was going to ask you," Fred began. George poked him in the back to prod him to keep going. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to go for a walk in the grounds," he finished quickly.

"It's after hours. We're not supposed to leave," she answered.

"Wait here," Fred said. He ran across the room to Harry and hurriedly asked him to borrow his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map.

Harry nodded. "They're up in my trunk. Just return them when you're done."

"I will," Fred promised before running straight past McKenna and up to the fourth year boy's dorm. He located the map and the cloak and rushed back downstairs and holding them out in his arms. "These," he said to McKenna, "will get us in and out of the castle without getting caught."

He watched McKenna's face as she surveyed the items in his hands. Finally, she looked up at him. "Okay," she said, "just let me drop of my bag in my dorm."

"Excellent," he said with a grin. He watched her go up the stairs before turning to George, who was grinning as well.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" he asked.

"Telling her I like her will be different," Fred said. "This is just a walk, but telling her I like her might change everything."

"But does it feel better getting it off your chest that you like her? Even if you just admitted it to me, it has to feel better."

Fred thought for a second. "Yeah, it does actually," he said. "But George, you won't tell anyone will you?"

"Not a soul and not until you're ready," George promised.

"Thanks," Fred said with a smile. Just then, McKenna returned from her dorm.

"Ready to go?" she asked somewhat shyly, sticking her hands in her pockets.

"Yeah," Fred said quietly, smiling to himself.

"Why are you smiling like that?" she asked with a small smile of her own.

"No reason," Fred answered. "I didn't know that people needed a reason to smile."

"That's true, but I thought you were smiling because you were happy to hang out with me," she said, her shyness gone and her teasing, joking personality coming back out again. "I guess not, though."

"Me? Happy to hang out with you? Never," Fred joked, linking his arm through hers and leading her to the portrait hole. Once they were out in the hallway, he slipped the invisibility cloak over the two of them. It required close contact and Fred was suddenly grateful for that.

"I'll be in charge of the map," McKenna said, snatching the map from him.

"What if I want to be in charge?" he asked.

"You always got to be in charge of it when we would sneak out in third year with George and Lee," she argued. "Then you went and gave it to Harry, so I-,"

"He needed it more than we did," Fred said. "He needed to get into Hogsmeade. George and I did a very noble thing by giving it to him."

"Yeah, noble, sure," McKenna snorted, looking down at the map. "I never even got the opportunity to do this." She pointed her wand at the map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

"Sorry about that," Fred whispered as lines began to weave themselves across the map, forming together to form the familiar castle of Hogwarts. "About never letting you use it, I mean."

"It's okay, you're making up for it now," McKenna said, smiling at him.

Fred smiled back before looking down the hallway in front of them. "Okay, let me know if you see anyone coming."

"Wait," McKenna said, grabbing his arm. She was looking over the map. "Filch is in the entrance hall with Mrs. Norris."

Fred paused for a minute. "Well, we can take the secret passageway from here to the third floor, and then from there take the one behind that statue to the first floor and then…" Fred then realized he was speaking quickly and more to himself than McKenna. "Sorry. I was just thinking out loud. Come on, I know how we can get outside. You just tell me if Filch and the cat leave, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed.

Fred stood slightly in front of her and to her right and he reached out and grabbed her wrist so that he could pull her in the right direction if he needed to. He would have much rather grabbed her hand, but he didn't know how she would react to that. For now, her wrist was going to have to be good enough.

He led her down through a secret passage to the third floor, and then through another one until they were on the first floor, but nowhere near the entrance hall. "In here," Fred finally said, dragging her into an empty classroom and shutting the door. He pulled the cloak off of them both and walked to the window.

"Fred, we're not—no-," McKenna said, shaking her head. "I'm not climbing out of a window.

"We have to. Filch is blocking the front door and all of the secret passageways that lead outside of the castle only lead to Hogsmeade. I would have flown us out, but I didn't feel like going back to get my broom."

"Well, you should have," she said, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Kenna, we're on the first floor. The ground is right there." He pressed his face to the window and looked at the ground, just a few feet below. "Please? Come on."

McKenna sighed. "Fine, okay, but you go first, and if you don't hurry up, I'm going to push you out."

"Okay, I get it," he said. He carefully slid open the window before sticking his head out. "It's definitely not that far down, Kenna." He pulled his head back inside and turned around to see McKenna studying the map. "Anyone coming?"

"Snape is one hallway over," she said. "I won't be able to tell which way he's going until he reaches the end of the hallway, though."

"Then we better hurry outside," Fred said. He picked up the invisibility cloak and threw it over his shoulder.

"You don't even know how odd that looks," McKenna laughed.

Fred looked down to see that his left arm looked completely disconnected from the rest of his body. "Cool," he said, grinning at McKenna. Turning around, he hoisted himself out of the window and jumped out.

McKenna stuck the map in her pocket and jumped into a sitting position on the windowsill before turning and sticking her legs outside. "Fred?" she called.

"Right here," he said, appearing in front of her. He reached out for her hands. "Need any help getting off of that extremely high windowsill?" He smirked at her.

"What makes you think I need help?" she scoffed.

"You're the one who didn't want to climb out of it earlier."

"Not because I didn't think I could or because it was too high. I just didn't want to climb out of a window. I prefer doors, thank you very much."

"Well we couldn't use the door, so here we are," Fred said.

McKenna narrowed her eyes playfully at him and pushed herself off the windowsill, landing in front of him. He lowered his arms. "Guess you didn't need help, then. Awkward." He grinned at her and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" she asked, jogging to catch up to him.

"For a walk," he said.

"You invited me to come along on this walk, so you can't just walk away without me."

"You followed me, though, and now you're walking with me, so it doesn't really matter anymore." He sent her a smile. This kind of playful arguing was normal for them and Fred actually quite enjoyed it.

"Why did you ask me to come?" she asked as they neared the lake. Fred sat down and brought his knees to his chest. He heard McKenna sit next to him and look at him, awaiting an answer. This would be the perfect time to tell her how he felt and get it completely off of his chest, or at least tell her some of the things he hadn't told her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"I needed to get out for a bit," he said.

"Why? What's going on, Fred? You're worrying me."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's just, there are some things going on that George and I need to handle and I don't want you to judge me."

"When have I ever?" she asked. "I didn't judge you when you told me you had a total of eleven toes-,"

"—that was a prank," he interrupted.

"I didn't judge you when, in fourth year, you told me that as a kid you used to sleep with a teddy bear named Fuzzy-,"

"You weren't supposed to know that. Lee only told you that because he got mad that I stole the Chocolate frogs he got for Christmas."

"And how did Lee know about Fuzzy?"

"He knew because I brought Fuzzy to school in first year."

"What?" McKenna teased. "I didn't catch that."

"I brought him to school in first year because I was nervous about being away from home and I didn't want to tell George I was nervous, so I snuck Fuzzy into my trunk, but Lee eventually found him."

"Where's Fuzzy now?" McKenna asked.

Fred smiled a small smile. "He's tucked away in the bottom dresser drawer in my room at home."

"So you still have him?"

"Yes," Fred admitted, his cheeks turning red.

"I'm still not judging you," McKenna whispered.

Fred looked up. Her face was half in shadow and half in moonlight and she was looking at him with those deep blue eyes. He opened his mouth, but then closed it. "I will tell you, but can I just try to get everything sorted out first?" He was such a chicken. He really couldn't believe himself. She had a point. She had never judged him. Not once, ever, for as long as they had known each other, but yet he was still scared to tell her that he had no money, he had been conned out of all his savings, and that he was basically crazy for her.

She looked out across the lake. "Sure," she whispered. Fred could still tell she was hurt, though, so he did the first thing that came to mind.

"Kenna, look at me," he whispered, reaching up and turning her face towards his. He looked into her eyes. "I promise that I will tell you everything. Now, when have I ever backed out on a promise?"

"Never," she answered after a moment.

Fred nodded slightly. "Not when I promised to buy you a butterbeer on our first trip to Hogsmeade-,"

"Then you spilled it all over the floor."

"Not when I promised to buy you a Fanged Frisbee from Zonko's-," he continued, ignoring her.

"Then you borrowed it and lost it," she said. "You seem to make promises, keep them and then mess them up." She smiled to show she was teasing.

"You trust me, don't you?" Fred asked.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"So, believe me when I say that I will tell you."

She stared at him for a moment longer before she finally smiled. "I believe you."

"Good," Fred said, smiling back. He let his hand fall from her cheek, wishing he didn't have to. Although, he wasn't sure if it was real or just his imagination running wild, but he thought McKenna looked a little disappointed about it as well.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

_"Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness."_ **- Richard Bach**

* * *

><p>McKenna woke up with a start. She brought her watch close to her eyes and squinted at it. It was too early to be up, even for her. Then, she realized what had caused her to wake up in the first place. A paper airplane was repeatedly hitting her in the head.<p>

"Fred and George," she mumbled to herself, grabbing the paper out of the air. She noticed there was writing on it, so she unfolded it and began to read.

_Kenna,_ it said, _come downstairs to the common room. We have a birthday surprise for you. You might want to dress to go outside, not that your gift is out there or anything, though. It's just a small suggestion. Anyway, hurry up and happy birthday! Your best friends, Fred and George._

McKenna smiled and tossed the paper onto her nightstand. It was October 3rd, her seventeenth birthday! Grabbing her wand, she looked around the room, anxious to perform her first bit of legal magic. Suddenly, she was struck with a sudden idea and put her wand down. It was a Friday, so even though it was early morning, she put on her uniform and grabbed a coat and her Gryffindor scarf before heading down the stairs. Right before she reached the bottom, she slowed to a stop and peered around the corner. Fred and George were waiting for her in the middle of the room. Smiling, she raced down the rest of the stairs. "Good morning!"

"Kenna!" the twins said in unison. Fred grabbed her in a hug and spun her around. "Happy birthday, you old lady!"

McKenna shoved him playfully before hugging George. She stepped away and looked at them, trying not to smile as she sneakily and wordlessly aimed her wand at them and watched as their hair stood on end as if they had just rubbed balloons on their heads. "So, have you two come into contact with any balloons lately?"

"Balloons?" George asked.

"No," Fred answered slowly. "It's _your _birthday today, Kenna. Anyway, I think the real question is what you want to do for your first bit of legal magic."

"Oh, I already did some," she said.

"Without us?" Fred asked, pretending to be overly hurt.

"What did you do?" George asked. "Something stupid I bet, like summoning your hairbrush."

"No," McKenna said, "but I think you two should consider summoning one."

"What are you talking about?" Fred asked.

McKenna couldn't hold it in anymore. She burst into laughter and pointed to their hair. Fred and George reached up and felt their sticking-up hair before turning to look at each other. Their eyes widened before they burst out laughing as well. "Brilliant!" they gasped through their laughter.

McKenna finally slowed her giggling long enough to fix Fred and George's hair. "So, what's this surprise you said you had for me?"

"Outside," Fred answered.

"I figured," she said, gesturing to her coat and scarf.

"Alright, then come on," George said, adjusting his own scarf.

Fred and George led McKenna out through the portrait hole and down the hallway.

"We're not going to get in trouble for this, are we?" she asked.

"No," Fred said. "People will be getting up and heading down to breakfast in about half an hour anyway, so it doesn't really matter if we're out in the hallways."

"I meant whatever you have planned," McKenna said. "Is it something that's going to get us in trouble?"

"Of course not," George answered. "Do you really think we'd do anything risky on your birthday?"

"Yes," McKenna responded at once.

"Thanks a lot," the twins said sarcastically.

"Anyway," Fred said, "even if it turned out that we did get in trouble, which we won't, we wouldn't let you get punished."

"What are you saying? Are you saying that you'd take the blame for me?"

"Well, yeah, this _was_ our idea," George smirked, "so we'd be more than prepared to take the blame."

"But I went along," McKenna argued.

"Kenna," Fred said, "we're _not_ going to get in trouble. There's nothing against the rules about what we're doing."

"Okay," she answered.

They reached the front doors and slipped outside. The sun was just coming up and the air was chilly. McKenna stuck her hands in her coat pockets to keep them warm.

"This way," Fred said, leading the way towards the lake.

"He's rather excited about this, isn't he?" McKenna whispered to George as they trailed slightly behind.

"Yeah, well, I guess he has a reason to," George said.

"Yeah? What's the reason?"

George paused. "Well, he is one of your best friends."

"Yeah, but so are you and I don't see you practically skipping across the Hogwarts grounds."

"I just contain myself better," George said. "Trust me, I really want to be skipping, but I'm not. I'm the twin that's better at containing my emotions."

"I can see that," McKenna snorted. "George?" she asked after a pause.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"What happened between Fred and Angelina last year?"

George actually stopped walking. "What are you talking about?"

"I just noticed, it was probably back in January, that something weird happened between them. They're okay now, so I thought maybe I was imagining it. Either way, I thought I would ask you. You would know better than anyone."

"I think you were imagining it," George said, starting to walk again and grinning at McKenna. She followed him and bit her lip. She wanted to believe him, but she wasn't completely sure that she did. She forgot all about her concerns, though, as Fred jogged back to them as they neared the lake and stood behind McKenna, putting his hands over her eyes. "We're almost there," he whispered into her ear.

"Where is 'there', exactly?" McKenna asked, trying to pry his hands away.

"You'll see in a minute," he said with a laugh.

They finally stopped walking, but Fred kept his hands over McKenna's eyes. "Fred," she whined.

"Be patient," he whispered. McKenna could hear George's footsteps walking a short distance away from them and she could hear him moving around somewhere directly in front of her.

"What's he doing?" McKenna asked.

"Will you just stop asking questions?" Fred asked, laughing again.

McKenna tried to step on his foot, but Fred darted backwards, still managing to keep her eyes effectively blocked.

"I want to see what this surprise is," she said.

"Okay, well, you can look now," Fred answered, sliding his hands away.

McKenna blinked a few times to adjust to the light and when she saw what was in front of her, she gasped. A blanket had been set up right beside the lake with almost every breakfast food Hogwarts had piled beside it.

"We thought we could eat breakfast out here," Fred said. "It's a little chilly, but the scenery is nice."

McKenna didn't say anything. She just continued to blink down at the blanket and the food before looking up and blinking around at the lake and the sunrise.

"Now's not the time to become a mute," Fred said pleadingly.

"Sounds like someone's desperate for Kenna to like the surprise," George taunted.

"You want her to like it too," Fred argued.

"Yeah, but-,"

"Forget it," Fred said, shaking his head.

McKenna didn't even stop to wonder about the strange behavior. She just threw her arms around first George and then Fred. "Thank you," she said. "It's wonderful."

"We thought you'd like it," George said, "but you know, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think this blanket is going to fit the three of us."

"What?" Fred asked, his eyes opening wide and his mouth dropping open.

"Rubbish," McKenna said, dropping to her knees in the middle of the blanket. "There's plenty of room."

"No, you know, it doesn't really look it to me, and I've just remembered I have five minutes to meet Katie. She'll be upset if I don't get to see her before classes." George spoke quickly and sent a smirk at Fred.

"Uh-huh," Fred said, crossing his arms. "Really, now."

"Yeah, really," George said, smirking wider.

"I thought she was well aware of what we were doing this morning," Fred said.

"It's okay, Fred," McKenna said. "George, you go. You don't want to keep Katie waiting." She felt half upset that George was leaving, since he had helped plan this and he was one of her best friends, but she also felt kind of glad. George's leaving would mean that she got to spend time alone with Fred.

"Fine," Fred said, dropping to his knees beside McKenna, "but, George, you owe me."

"No, I think you might end up owing me," George said. He winked and said one last happy birthday to McKenna before jogging back up towards the castle.

"What's going on with you two?" McKenna asked. "You're acting especially odd today."

"No, we're not," Fred answered, smiling at her.

"If you say so," McKenna said, rolling her eyes.

"So, what do you say we start eating?" Fred asked.

"Of course you're in a hurry to start eating," McKenna teased.

Fred stuck his tongue out at her before shifting over to reach the food. "I had the house elves give us a little bit of everything."

"Don't tell Hermione you went down there. She'll lecture you about how wrong it was that you gave them more work to do without paying them and giving them a break halfway through preparing all of this."

"A lecture that I certainly don't have time for," Fred groaned.

"You never have time for lectures of any kind," McKenna told him, taking the cup of pumpkin juice he offered her.

"True," he answered. "You know me so well."

"As I should," she responded as Fred handed her a plate of food. "So, why did you do all of this?" she asked after a few minutes.

"Why shouldn't I? You only come of age once and you're one of my best friends. You deserve it."

"But it's just me, Fred," McKenna said. "You didn't have to go through all of this trouble just for me."

"That's just it, McKenna," Fred said. McKenna raised her eyebrows slightly. Fred and George never used her full name unless it was something serious. She had told them right at the start of their friendship that she preferred to be called by her nickname. Fred sighed and set his plate down before turning towards her again. "I have something to tell you."

"Am I finally going to find out why you've been acting so weird all year?"

Fred nodded. "I'm just going to tell you everything. It's kind of all related anyway."

"Okay," McKenna said, readjusting herself on the blanket. "I'm listening."

"Well, first of all, I think you should know that I-,"

"So, what do we have here?"

McKenna and Fred both jumped and looked up to see Snape coming towards them.

"It's McKenna's birthday today," Fred said, standing up and dusting off his hands on his pants. "George and I wanted to do something nice for her and we didn't think this was against the rules. McKenna didn't have a part in it. We just brought her here."

"You are supposed to be at breakfast in the great hall with the rest of the students," Snape said, peering down at them.

"We know," Fred said, "but it's her birthday and like I said, George and I didn't think-,"

"Of course you didn't," Snape interrupted. "Thinking isn't something you and your twin seem to do much of."

"Professor," McKenna said, stepping in as Fred's fists clenched and he frowned. "Being out here really isn't against the rules. Fred and George just thought they were doing something nice for my birthday."

"I really don't care what day it is," Snape said. "Come with me. I think we'll have to have a talk with your head of house."

"About what?" Fred asked angrily.

"I have to wonder," Snape said, a small smirk on his face, "where you might have gotten all of this food. Surely not from the kitchens, since students are not typically allowed down there. I also have to wonder why your twin is not here with you if he helped you plan this."

"He went back to the castle," Fred said.

"Ah, leaving you to fend for yourself," Snape said. "How considerate."

"That's not what he was doing," Fred snapped.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your attitude," Snape said, smirking wider. "And I think another ten points should be taken for sneaking down to the kitchens."

"I never said we snuck down to the kitchens," Fred said.

"You didn't have to," Snape said. "Now, back to the castle, unless you want to be late for classes and lose more points from Gryffindor."

McKenna grabbed Fred's arm and dragged him away. He looked as if he wanted to say something more to Snape, but she couldn't let that happen. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Snape wave his wand to vanish the food and the blanket.

"I can't believe it," Fred hissed under his breath. "He completely ruined everything."

"No, he didn't," McKenna assured him.

"He did. How can you say he didn't? We barely got to eat or enjoy any of what George and I set up for you. I had this idea in my head that it was going to be perfect and it was ruined."

"Fred, it's the thought that counts and I know you put a lot of thought into it. And the ten minutes we were there were ten wonderful minutes."

Fred shook his head and looked down at the ground. He didn't have enough money to buy McKenna a nice birthday gift, so he had wanted to do something else that she would love. He knew that she didn't care about getting the most expensive gifts, but even when he had to do something simple, it ended up ruined.

"Where have you two been?" Professor McGonagall asked as Fred and McKenna reached the entrance hall with Snape right behind them.

"They were outside by the lake. They had stolen food from the kitchens-,"

"It was me and George that went to the kitchens, not McKenna," Fred said, "and we didn't _steal_ food. The house elves were more than happy to give it to us."

"They had _stolen_ food from the kitchens," Snape continued, with a look at Fred, who had to bite his lip to keep from snapping at the professor again. "I took points away, and I honestly think a detention is necessary for their attitudes."

"McKenna's hardly said two words!" Fred cried.

"Point proven," Snape said, nodding his head towards Fred.

"Professor Snape," McGonagall said, "I hardly think giving a detention is necessary. In fact, this whole issue is rather unnecessary. I don't believe they were doing anything wrong."

"It's Kenna's birthday today, Professor," Fred explained again. "That's the only reason we did it."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "You may head to your first class, and happy birthday, Miss Collins."

"Thank you, Professor," McKenna said with a small smile. She dragged Fred away before Snape could protest. She did hear him and McGonagall talking in heated voices that grew fainter as she dragged Fred further and further away.

"Snape's not going to get away with this," Fred said.

McKenna looked up at him. His eyes were flashing with anger. "We didn't get in trouble. Just leave it alone, Fred."

"I can't just leave it alone. We lost house points and the one thing I wanted to do for you for your birthday got all messed up."

"Fred, I don't care if it got messed up!" She grabbed his shoulders and turned him to face her. "You and George put all that thought into it and I appreciate it! I really do, so don't worry about Snape."

Fred didn't respond. Instead, he stared at her, his anger fading from his face, but only slightly. He pulled free from McKenna's grasp and headed off down the hallway. "Snape can still expect a prank, though," he called over his shoulder as McKenna shook her head and let out a laugh.

* * *

><p>"So, did you tell her?" George asked, catching up to Fred in the hallway on the way to class. "That is why I left you two alone, you know."<p>

"Yeah, I figured," Fred answered. He was still angry about McKenna's birthday breakfast being interrupted by Snape. He had almost told her everything, too. Maybe it was a sign.

"What's wrong?" George asked. "Did you tell her or not?"

"Negative," Fred answered.

"Why not?" George asked.

"I was five seconds away from telling her when Snape came."

"Oh no," George groaned. "That's an instant downer."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "He took ten points away for my attitude and ten for the food being taken from the kitchens. He wanted to give us a detention, but McGonagall shot that down."

"Thankfully," George said. "So, what are we going to do to prank Snape?"

Fred smiled. "I'm glad we're on the same wavelength."

"Has it ever been any other way?" George asked.

"No," Fred answered. "We have to do something other than the shampoo prank. That'll be saved for Christmas as usual." Fred and George had anonymously giving Snape bottles of shampoo for Christmas every year since first year.

"It has to be something bigger than that," George said. "Something with a noticeable effect that he won't just throw away."

"I'm thinking we have another victim for our Ton-Tongue Toffees," Fred said.

George smiled. "I wonder if Snape's tongue will beat the current record held by none other than Harry's cousin."

"It's a tough record to beat," Fred smiled. "Four feet is pretty impressive."

"How does tomorrow during class sound?" George asked. "Snape always keeps a glass of pumpkin juice on his desk. We can slip the toffee into it before he gets into the room.

"You'd think as a Potions teacher he'd know not to leave a drink unattended on his desk," Fred said.

"Good for us he doesn't know how dangerous that can be," George smirked.

"His stupidity is our benefit," Fred said, high fiving George and grinning. Just planning the prank on Snape was enough to put him in a better mood.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. I'm still not too sure how I feel about this story though, so reviews/constructive critisicm would be awesome. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

_"Making people laugh is magic."_**-Amanda Seyfried**

* * *

><p>Midway through October, Fred still hadn't told McKenna a single thing. He hadn't gotten the courage or another opportunity since her birthday. He hated that he was being such a coward, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her any of it. The last thing he wanted was to chase her away, although he thought he knew deep down that she wouldn't care about any of it. Like she had said, she wouldn't judge him.<p>

Fred could see her watching him and George whenever they were talking in hushed voices in a corner of the common room and while she never looked thrilled, she didn't say anything more to him about it. She seemed to have accepted the fact that he would tell her when he was ready, which he planned to do. He just didn't know how or when at the moment.

As for Snape, the Ton-Tongue Toffee prank had been effective. Twenty minutes after Fred and George had slipped the toffee into his drink Snape had taken a sip and immediately started to gag. His tongue had reached four and a half feet before he managed to focus enough to perform the spell to fix it. He naturally had suspected Fred and George, but he didn't have any proof so he couldn't punish them. McKenna had given the twins a huge grin and Fred had practically felt his insides melt.

* * *

><p>"Fred, you do realize that you aren't concentrating enough, don't you?" McKenna asked during one Transfiguration class about a week and a half before Halloween.<p>

"I know," he said. His head was resting on his desk and he was absentmindedly waving his wand over the raccoon in front of him. He was supposed to be transfiguring it into a tea kettle, which he had done, but it was currently a tea kettle of raccoon skin.

"I don't think the spout of your tea kettle is supposed to be bushy and striped," McKenna teased.

"I kind of like it that way," Fred said, putting down his wand in defeat. He was usually really good at transfiguration, but today his mind just wasn't on it.

"Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall said sternly, approaching them. "Is there a reason why your tea kettle is furry?"

"The fur, uh, keeps the tea warmer," Fred said, improvising on the spot. "It's all the rage now."

"I see," Professor McGonagall said. Fred could see McKenna out of the corner of his eye covering her mouth as she tried not to laugh. Knowing that she was laughing gave him more confidence and he grinned widely up at his teacher, who was speaking to him again. "I suggest you try harder to get it correct and stop becoming distracted by whatever it is that's distracting you. Particularly, Miss Collins, it seems." She gave them both a stern look before turning to walk away.

"Professor," George said from behind Fred. McGonagall turned and looked at him, nodding her head slightly and inviting him to speak. "How are the champions chosen for the tournament?"

McGonagall pursed her lips. She shook her head. "That is a secret until the time comes for them to be chosen. Now, be quiet and continue to transfigure your raccoon." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. McKenna turned and rolled her eyes at George. He gave her a '_what_?' look before turning back to his raccoon.

McKenna turned to Fred. "Sorry for getting you in trouble. I couldn't help it. I won't laugh anymore. I'll let you work."

"No, it's okay," Fred said. As thrown off as he was by McGonagall's comment, he wanted McKenna to keep talking to him and laughing. "I like your laugh."

"Thanks," she said, turning a light shade of pink.

One morning, about a week before Halloween, Fred, George, McKenna, Lee, and Katie were heading to breakfast when they encountered a huge crowd of people that began at the top of the front staircase. "What's going on?" Katie asked.

"Only one way to find out," Fred said. He began elbowing his way through the crowd. "Excuse me, excuse me." The others followed close behind him, anxious to see what all the fuss was about.

"'Triwizard Tournament'," Fred read out loud from a sign situated at the bottom of the stairs. "'The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at 6 o'clock on Friday the 30th of October. Lessons will end half an hour early. Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the welcoming feast'."

"Excellent," George said. "We have History of Magic last on Friday. I'll bet you anything that Binns just keeps talking despite the schedule change. You know how much he hates interruptions to his carefully timed lesson plan."

"The classroom will be empty and he'll just keep droning," Fred agreed with a grin.

"So, any word about who else is entering from Hogwarts?" Lee asked as they walked into the great hall.

"Cedric Diggory," McKenna reported, glancing at the Hufflepuff table.

"Eh," Fred and George said together.

"Personally, I'd rather have it be Angelina," Lee said as they sat down.

"Why? A Hogwarts student is a Hogwarts student," McKenna said with a shrug.

"Admit it," Fred said, "you'd like to have someone in Gryffindor be a champion. Or are you still worried this tournament's too dangerous and you'd rather have Diggory be a champion so it'll be okay if he gets hurt?"

"Of course not! What a horrible thing to say," McKenna said. "It would be nice if it was Angelina, but I'd still be worried. The tasks are supposed to be extremely dangerous."

"Or maybe you like Cedric. Every other girl does."

"Don't be ridiculous," McKenna said calmly.

"I wonder if McGonagall will tell us what they are. The tasks, I mean," George said excitedly, wrapping one arm around Katie and using the other hand to pour himself a bowl of cereal.

"Doubt it," Katie said. "She wouldn't even tell you how the champions are chosen."

"It's worth a try," George shrugged as he kissed Katie's cheek. "I'll ask her tomorrow."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Harry, do you know if the twins are still up in their dorm?" McKenna asked, stopping Harry, Ron and Hermione at the portrait hole. It was the morning of October 30th. The students from the other schools were coming today and there was a buzz of excitement just in the Gryffindor common room alone.<p>

"No, I'm not sure," Harry shrugged. "Why?"

"I've been waiting for them to come down to see if they wanted to go to breakfast together. I've been up for hours and they haven't come down yet."

"They could've gone down early," Hermione suggested.

"I suppose they could have," McKenna said, frowning in thought.

"Want to join us for breakfast?" Ron asked.

"Sure, why not?" McKenna answered.

"I wonder what the students from the other schools will be like," Hermione said.

"Who knows?" Ron shrugged.

"I'm sure it'll be interesting having them stay here. Where will they be staying, anyway?" McKenna asked. "I don't think there's a lot of extra room in our dorms."

"The teachers would have told us beforehand if they were going to stay in our dorms with us," Hermione said reasonably. "I think they'll most likely be staying somewhere else in the castle. By the way, McKenna, I don't think I've asked you yet, but would you like to join S.P.E.W?"

"What's that?" she asked.

"You pay two Sickles for Hermione to _spew_ information about house elves and their rights at you," Ron said.

"_S.P.E.W.,_" Hermione said, emphasizing the letters, "is an organization I created that stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. It costs two Sickles to join and you get a badge. I mean, you do realize that your sheets are changed, your fires lit, your classrooms cleaned, and your food cooked by a group of magical creatures who are unpaid and enslaved?" she asked.

"Well, yeah," McKenna answered, "but I've always been told they're happy working. I mean-,"

"Who told you that? Fred and George?"

"Yeah, I-,"

"Figures," Hermione said. "The house elves are being enslaved and nobody cares."

"People care, Hermione," McKenna assured her, "but think of it this way. The house elves are really happy to work here. Trust me, I know. Secondly, it's much better to have happy workers down there as opposed to grumpy ones, don't you agree? I mean, if the elves truly hated it, they could be spitting in the food. Thirdly, who else would want that job?"

"I—still, they're being brainwashed!"

"Hey, there are Fred and George," Harry said quickly as they entered the great hall, which had been decorated with banners of all four houses seemingly overnight. He gestured towards the middle of the Gryffindor table, where, sure enough, Fred and George were sitting. They were a little ways apart from everyone else and talking in low voices.

"Not that again," McKenna sighed. "It seems that lately that's all they do. They sit by themselves and talk in whispers. Fred promised he would tell me what's going on, but I haven't heard anything yet."

"We haven't heard anything either," Ron said. "I'm their brother and I don't know anything. This is so unlike them. Let's go see what they're up to." With that, he led the way over to the twins.

"It's a bummer," George was saying dismally, "but if he won't talk to us in person, we'll have to send him the letter after all. Or we'll stuff it into his hand. He can't avoid us forever."

"Who's avoiding you?" Ron asked, sitting down next to George. Harry and Hermione sat next to him and McKenna stood behind them, her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Wish you would," said Fred, looking irritated at the interruption.

"What's a bummer?" Ron asked.

"Having a nosy git like you for a brother," George muttered.

"Are you going to sit down?" Fred asked, looking up at McKenna. She gave him a serious look before finally agreeing and sitting beside him.

"Who isn't meeting with you in person?" she asked.

Fred let out a sigh and closed his eyes. "Someone George and I have to deal with. Look, I promised I would tell you, and I will."

"I've been waiting forever, and where have you been all morning? I was waiting for you in the common room."

"We've been discussing things," Fred answered.

"Things," she repeated.

Fred just clamped his mouth shut and didn't say another word, much to McKenna's irritation. She could tell that she was walking on thin ice by constantly bothering him about it, but she couldn't help herself. She had always been naturally curious, but even more so when it came to her best friends.

"Have you two got any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament yet?" Harry asked. "Thought any more about trying to enter?"

"I asked McGonagall how the champions are chosen but she wasn't telling. She just told me to shut up and get on with transfiguring my raccoon." George shook his head and stabbed at his scrambled eggs.

"The poor eggs," McKenna whispered, a small smile lifting the corners of her mouth.

After a moment, she heard Fred let out a small laugh and her smile widened. As long as she wasn't asking him about whatever secrets he was keeping, it was just like always between them, but when she was questioning him, she could practically see the tension floating in the air. It was all very odd and frustrating.

"Wonder what the tasks are going to be?" Ron asked.

"We wondered that too, but all we could gather was that they were dangerous, which Dumbledore implied on the first night here," Fred said.

"I bet we could do those tasks, Harry," Ron plowed on. "We've done dangerous things before."

"Not in front of a panel of judges, you haven't," Fred said.

"George asked McGonagall not too long ago what the tasks were going to be. All she said was that the champions get awarded points according to how well they've completed the tasks," McKenna added.

"Who are the judges?" Harry asked.

"Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the panel," Hermione began, and everyone turned to look at her, wondering how she knew that. She continued on as she pushed her eggs around her plate. "They're on the panel because all three of them were injured during the Tournament of 1792, when a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on the rampage."

"How…?" Ron whispered, shaking his head in mystification at Hermione's apparent knowledge of everything.

"Honestly, it's all in _Hogwarts, A History_. Though, of course, that book's not entirely reliable. A _Revised History of Hogwarts_ would be a more accurate title. Or a _Highly Biased and Selective History of Hogwarts_, which of course just skims over the nastier aspects of the school."

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked.

"Spew," McKenna said, biting her lip to keep from laughing, "and the house elves." The twins, Harry and Ron all groaned.

"It's S.P.E.W, and yes, that's what I'm talking about! Not once, in over a thousand pages, does _Hogwarts, A History _mention that we are all colluding in the oppression of a hundred slaves!"

"Listen, have you ever been down to the kitchens, Hermione?" George asked.

"No," she answered. "I hardly think students are supposed to go-,"

"Well, we have," George said, gesturing to himself, McKenna and Fred.

"I tried to tell her," McKenna added. "They're _happy_."

"Exactly," Fred said, pointing his fork at Hermione, his mouth full of scrambled eggs. "They think it's the best job in the world."

"That's because they're uneducated! And brainwashed! They don't know any better. They don't know to stand up for themselves and get at least better wages and better-,"

"Oh, look, the mail's here," Ron said loudly, causing Hermione to glare at him, but shut up nonetheless.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!**


	8. Chapter 8

_"Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness."_** -Bryant H. McGill**

* * *

><p>"This is ridiculous," Fred said impatiently.<p>

"I've never seen so many people trying to get out of the common room in my life," McKenna agreed. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were arriving in just a little while and everyone had just come from dropping off their bags. Now, it seemed like the entirety of Gryffindor house was trying to leave at once.

"Come on, move along!" George yelled over the heads of the group of third years in front of them. His words didn't do much to move the crowd, but eventually everyone had gotten out of the common room and into the hallway, which was still clogged with people.

"Come on, climb up," Fred said, crouching down slightly so that McKenna could climb on his back. "We're going to beat all of these people to the entrance hall.

"I don't think it will matter," Angelina said from beside them. "McGonagall's going to arrange us in order of year. We'll be towards the back, so we have no reason to hurry."

"Who cares?" Fred asked. He glanced up at McKenna. "Are you getting on or not?"

She hesitated before breaking into a grin. "Sure, why not," she answered, jumping onto Fred's back.

Fred could hear her laughing in his ear as he sped off as fast as he could towards the entrance hall. "Look," he said when they got there, "people beat us down here."

"Oh well," McKenna shrugged, sliding down from Fred's back. "We tried."

Fred smiled and ruffled her hair, causing her to send him a playful frown. "Now we just have to wait for George and the others," he said.

"We'll probably have to catch up with them outside," McKenna said, taking in the crowd of people. "McGonagall's sending people out by year, though, so we might still be standing here by the time the others come downstairs."

Fred nodded in agreement and stuck his hands in his pockets as he looked around. "Oh no, there's Oliver," he said.

"Oliver Wood?" McKenna squeaked.

"Yeah, unless you know another Oliver," Fred said, confused. "He's coming over this way. I hope it's not to complain about Quidditch being canceled during his last year here. He wouldn't stop talking about it to me and George a few weeks ago."

"I need to go," McKenna whispered, turning away.

"Go where?" Fred asked, grabbing her arm. Why was she acting so strange? "There's nowhere for you to go."

"Let me go, please," she pleaded. "I can't talk to him."

"Why? I didn't think you had a problem with him before."

"Fred, Kenna." Fred looked up at the sound of his name and McKenna froze. Slowly, Fred dropped her arm. She didn't move a muscle, and Fred gave her a look out of the corner of his eye.

"Oliver," Fred said. "Still upset about Quidditch being cancelled?" he joked.

"No, not so much anymore," he answered. "I've decided that this tournament will be interesting. It's a once in a lifetime thing to witness, right? It only comes every so many years."

"Yeah, that's true," Fred answered. "It also means we won't be subject to your crazy training sessions."

"They helped us win last year didn't they?" Oliver asked.

"Or it could have been Harry that helped us win," Fred said, smirking.

"We were definitely a lot better with him on the team," Oliver said. "He's the best Seeker we've had since Charlie."

"You were a good captain, though," Fred told him. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"Thanks," Oliver answered. "You know, I've actually been giving this tournament a lot of thought and I'm considering entering. What do you think?"

"You're going to enter?" Fred spluttered.

"Yeah, I was thinking of it. Why, you don't think I should?"

"Well, you _are_ of age," Fred said, almost bitterly, "so it's up to you."

"Yeah, I am," Oliver said slowly. "Maybe I'll just go for it."

"If you want to, then you should go for-Kenna, where are you going?" Fred asked, stopping midsentence and raising an eyebrow. He and Oliver both turned towards her. She was edging further and further away as if she was trying to blend in with the crowd until she could disappear completely.

"Hi McKenna," Oliver said quietly.

"Hi Oliver," she answered in a whisper. They awkwardly stared at each other for a moment, something that didn't go unnoticed by Fred.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Am I missing something?"

McKenna opened her mouth, but kept her eyes on Oliver. "I-," she started.

"We-," Oliver said at the same time, and they both fell into silence.

"Will someone just tell me what's going on?"

"Everyone in fourth year and up, please proceed outside!" Professor McGonagall yelled. "Hurry, please! Our guests will be arriving any moment!" Apparently all of the younger kids were outside already.

"We've got to go, Fred," McKenna said, grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the front doors.

"What about George and the others?"

"We'll meet them outside," she answered shortly.

"McKenna, stop," Fred said just outside the doors. A few people almost smashed into them and they mumbled something in annoyance. Fred didn't care. He just ignored them. "What the hell was going on in there? Did something happen between you and Oliver? I mean, I know you two were never really close or anything, but you always got along fairly well, so why were you staring at him like he had ten heads?"

"It's complicated," she said.

"Mr. Weasley and Miss Collins, you're blocking the door," McGonagall called out, "and Mr. Weasley, please tuck in your shirt and straighten your tie. You look like you just rolled out of bed."

McKenna pulled Fred off to the side and started straightening his tie for him. "Kenna," Fred said quietly, reaching up and grabbing her hands in his, "please tell me."

"I will, but not now," she said, letting her hands fall still in his grasp. "I'm being patient with you, now you have to be patient with me. It's only fair, right?"

"I also think it's only fair that we tell each other things. Things are different between us this year and it's all because we're tense about not telling each other things."

"So are you planning on telling me what's been up with you?" McKenna asked. "When you tried to tell me on my birthday, we got interrupted and I must say I've been pretty patient. I've hardly pestered you since then."

"Well, I guess I should start with saying that-,"

"There you are," George said, catching up to Fred and McKenna. Lee, Katie, and Angelina were behind him.

"We've been looking all over for you," Lee added.

"It's crowded," McKenna said, still looking at Fred.

"Er, did we miss something?" George asked with a raised eyebrow.

McKenna followed his gaze to see that Fred was still holding her hands against his chest. She jumped back and quickly pulled them away. "No, I was just helping Fred straighten his tie."

"Sure that's what you were doing," George said.

Fred turned away from McKenna and looked at the sky. "Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall hissed. "I thought I told you to tuck in your shirt."

Without turning around, Fred did as she said. He was irritated, but he always seemed to be irritated lately. He was irritated at himself and now irritated that McKenna didn't want to tell him something important.

"Aha," Dumbledore called out, "Unless I am very much mistaken, the students from Beauxbatons are approaching."

"Where?" asked many of the students eagerly.

"There!" McKenna said, pointing towards the forest. She was right. Something large was hurtling across the sky towards the castle.

"It's a dragon!" yelped a first year.

"Don't be stupid, it's a flying house!" yelled another.

"A flying house," George chuckled.

"No, he was close," McKenna said. "It's a carriage, but it looks to be about the size of a house."

"Pulled by flying horses," Fred added as the carriage came closer. It flew lower and lower before slamming to the ground with a loud crash. McKenna saw Neville jump backwards and almost fall over.

"How big do you think those horses are?" Fred whispered to George.

"Don't know, but they're bigger than any horse I've ever seen."

Fred and the entire population of Hogwarts waited in anticipation as the door to the carriage opened and a giant foot stepped out.

"Bloody hell," Fred whispered under his breath. "What is that?"

"It's a _foot_," McKenna whispered.

"But who owns that foot?" Fred answered. "That's what I'd like to know."

He didn't have to wait long to find out. The owner of the shoe climbed out of the carriage and almost everyone's mouth dropped open.

"Blimey, that is one big woman," Fred heard Seamus Finnegan whisper to Harry and Ron. He was right. This woman might even have been bigger than big. She looked like she might have been a little taller than Hagrid, who was already twice the size of an average man.

"Who is she?" Lee gasped.

"Must be the headmistress," McKenna answered.

Dumbledore began to clap and at once the students began to clap as well. "My dear Madame Maxime," Dumbledore said, stepping forward, "welcome to Hogwarts."

"Professor Dumblydore," she said in a strong French accent, "I hope I find you well?"

"Yes, thank you," he answered. He turned back to the Hogwarts students, gathered on the steps. "Please welcome Madame Maxime and her students from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic," he said.

Applause started again as a group of girls, all dressed in blue, emerged from the carriage and gathered in a group beside Madame Maxime, standing huddled in her shadow.

"Has Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.

"No, but he should be here any moment," Dumbledore answered. "If you wish, you may step inside to warm up a bit. Unless you'd rather stay here to greet him?"

"We will go inside and warm up," Madame Maxime said, "but zee horses…"

"Hagrid, our gamekeeper will be more than happy to take care of them," Dumbledore said

"Very well," Madame Maxime agreed. She gestured to her students. "Come." She led the way up the steps, the Hogwarts students parting to let them through.

McKenna looked around in slight annoyance as she noticed that the eyes of almost every boy were glued to the Beauxbatons girls, who were practically prancing up the steps into the school.

She shared a glance with Angelina and rolled her eyes. Katie was snapping her fingers in front of George's face. McKenna looked up at Fred, whose eyes were also following the girls. "Ridiculous," she muttered.

"Did you say something?" Fred asked, his eyes snapping to her as the Beauxbatons students and Madame Maxime stepped inside. He felt as if he had momentarily spaced out.

"No, nothing," McKenna said, crossing her arms and frowning.

"Okay," Fred answered slowly, shrugging.

"Can you hear something?" Angelina asked suddenly.

There was sort of a rumbling noise that seemed loud enough to shake the ground.

"Look at the lake!" Lee exclaimed.

Every head turned towards the lake that was suddenly bubbling as if there were a giant stove under it, boiling the water. Little by little, a giant ship rose out of the lake and as it emerged completely the rumbling sound and the bubbles came to an abrupt stop. There was the splash of an anchor hitting the water and a long plank was lowered onto the ground.

A group of burly boys dressed in furs walked down the plank and across the lawn towards the castle. They were being led by an older man with black hair lined with grey.

"Albus!" he called, throwing out his arms and wrapping Dumbledore in a hug.

"Welcome, welcome," Dumbledore said, grinning. "It's good to see you, Igor,"

"Dear old Hogwarts," the man, who Fred guessed had to be Karkaroff, said as he looked up at the castle. "It is so good to be here."

"It's good to have you," Dumbledore said, "Now, please, come inside where it's warm."

"Yes, of course," Karkaroff said. He headed up the steps and the group of Durmstrang boys followed him. As they were thrown into the light from the castle, many people gasped as they noticed one boy at the back of the group.

"Viktor Krum?" Lee said, his mouth dropping open. It came out in a question of surprise.

"Viktor Krum," Fred repeated, as if he were confirming what Lee had said. He looked down at McKenna, who was watching the Durmstrang boys, just like most of the other girls were. "See anyone interesting?" he asked. He managed to keep his tone teasing, but he felt nervous on the inside.

"Interesting how?" she asked, tearing her eyes away from the Durmstrang students and looking at Fred.

"You know what I mean," he smirked.

"Well, I don't. See anything interesting, I mean," she answered.

"Not even Krum?" Fred asked, surprised as the Hogwarts students began filing back into the school after the Durmstrang students.

"No, I'm not into Quidditch players," she said with a smirk.

"Ouch," Fred said, wincing and smirking back. "I guess I better quit the team then, huh?" He nudged her playfully.

"You're not that good anyway," she teased back.

"Ouch, again," he groaned. "Why do you just hate me so much?"

"I don't hate you," she said, "I just love teasing you." She leaned up and messed up his hair before darting through the crowd and back inside.

* * *

><p>"An Age Line!" Fred said excitedly once the feast was over and they were heading back to their dorms. Dumbledore had just explained the rules of entering the tournament and the means he would be using to prevent any underage students from entering. "That should be fooled by an Aging Potion, shouldn't it? And once your names in that goblet it can't tell whether you're seventeen or not!"<p>

"I suppose," McKenna said. Truthfully, she thought what Fred said made sense, but she still couldn't see what the big hype was for them about entering. The tournament didn't seem like something that should be taken lightly. Even Dumbledore had urged every potential contestant to make sure that they were absolutely sure of their decision to enter.

"But I don't think anyone under seventeen will stand a chance," Hermione said from behind them. "We just haven't learned enough."

"That's what I've been trying to tell them," McKenna said, turning around and looking at Hermione.

"Speak for yourself," George said to Hermione, with a snort. "Harry, you'll try to get in, won't you?"

Harry hesitated, but before he could answer, Ron, who hadn't been listening at all, spoke up. "Where's Krum? Did Dumbledore say where the Durmstrang people are sleeping?"

"I saw them going outside," Fred said, "so unless they're planning on sleeping in the greenhouses, I'm guessing they're going back to the ship."

Ron looked disappointed and McKenna saw him throw one last look over his shoulder as if hoping that Fred was lying.

"So," McKenna said as they reached the common room and everyone immediately headed up to their dorms, leaving her and Fred alone.

"Fred, are you coming?" George asked, pausing on the bottom step.

"Just a minute," Fred answered, looking at George over his shoulder. George nodded and once he was gone, Fred turned back to McKenna. "So, what?" he asked.

"You're really going to do this, aren't you?" she asked. She looked up at him and watched as the dwindling firelight danced off of his face.

"Yeah," Fred said. He still looked excited. "An Aging Potion won't take long to make and George and I have all of the ingredients in our potions kits already. We can probably make it tonight and put our names in tomorrow morning."

"Do you really think it'll work?"

"Yeah, don't you?"

"Well, I have to admit, it sounds reasonable, but do you really think it'll be that easy?"

"Dumbledore probably won't expect anyone to actually brew up an Aging Potion."

McKenna gave him a look and raised her eyebrows.

"Okay," Fred laughed, "maybe he'll expect me and George to make one, but it's worth a try."

"Well, I'm not going to try and stop you anymore if you really want to enter, so I guess I'll just wish you good luck."

"Thanks," Fred said with a grin. "Hey, will you please tell me what's going on with you and Oliver?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. She grinned and patted his cheek. "Goodnight, Freddie."

"Goodnight," he mumbled disappointedly.


	9. Chapter 9

_"Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal."_ **-Mario Andretti**

* * *

><p>"Go ahead, just do it, Ange," McKenna said. They were standing in the doorway to the great hall where the Goblet of Fire was set up. It was a Saturday, but it seemed that a lot of people had woken up early to see who would be putting their names in.<p>

"It's more crowded than I thought it would be," Angelina said, fiddling with the slip of paper in her hand where she had written her name and school.

"It doesn't matter," McKenna assured her. "Just do it quickly if you're nervous. Run over, drop in your name, and run back."

"Come with me?" Angelina asked. "Just stop outside the Age Line since you're not actually putting your name in."

McKenna nodded and followed her friend to the center of the room. "Go," she urged, nudging Angelina forward. Taking a deep breath, Angelina stepped over the Age Line and dropped her name into the Goblet of Fire. There was applause from the other Gryffindors in the room. McKenna noticed Harry and Ron standing by Hermione, who was sitting with a book in her hands, but watching Angelina instead of reading it.

"Well, I did it," Angelina said. "No turning back now."

There was another cheer, and McKenna turned to see Cedric Diggory slipping his name into the goblet. She clapped politely along with Angelina and a lot of the other students in the room.

"Are you entering?" Oliver Wood asked, coming up to her. Why did he keep talking to her all of a sudden? After what had happened over the summer, she had gotten the impression that he didn't want to talk to her.

"No," she said with a laugh. "Did you decide to enter?"

"Yeah, I put my name in early this morning," Oliver said.

McKenna didn't get an opportunity to answer because there was the sound of excited yelling from the doorway. Both she and Angelina looked up to see Lee, Fred and George running into the room, waving small bottles above their heads.

"Looks like they made the Aging Potion," McKenna said.

"We did," Fred answered, overhearing her and holding up the bottle in his hand that contained a miniscule amount of potion. "We only needed about a drop each to make us a few months older."

"Fred and George agreed to go first," Lee said. "It was very gallant of them to be the guinea pigs."

"Oh, I agree," McKenna said with a snort.

"It's not going to work," Hermione chimed in. She was flipping through her book in annoyance.

Fred and George looked at each other and smirked before sitting down on either side of Hermione. "Oh yeah? And why's that, Granger?" Fred asked.

Hermione snapped her book shut. "You see this?" She pointed to the Age Line.

"Yeah, we see it," George said.

"We do have perfect vision after all," Fred said.

"It's an Age Line," Hermione said, ignoring them.

"Really?" George gasped in mock surprise.

"I thought it was there for decoration," Fred added.

McKenna laughed and Fred turned to shoot her a grin while Hermione looked more annoyed.

"It's an Age Line," she repeated more forcefully.

"So?" Fred asked, smirking.

"So," Hermione repeated. "I don't think this Age Line or Dumbledore for that matter could be fooled by something as pathetic and dim-witted as an Aging Potion."

"Ah, but that's why it's so brilliant," Fred said.

"Because it's so pathetically dim-witted," finished George.

McKenna watched in amusement as Fred and George stood up on the bench next to Hermione and uncapped the bottles in their hands with smiles on their faces.

"Ready, Fred?"

"Ready, George."

"Bottoms up," they said together, linking arms and raising the small bottles to their lips. A cheer rose through the crowd as they jumped off the bench and within the boundaries of the Age Line. Another cheer went around the room when after a few seconds of being there, nothing happened.

With identical grins on their faces, Fred and George simultaneously slipped pieces of paper with their names on it into the Goblet of Fire. When once again nothing happened, a third cheer, the loudest one yet, rang throughout the room. Even McKenna found herself clapping, feeling impressed by what was going on. Of course, she knew that rules were rules, but she sometimes chose to simply ignore that fact, especially when she was with Fred and George. That was why she almost didn't expect what happened next.

With a flash of blue light, Fred and George were ejected out of the circular Aging Line and thrown across the room. Shrieks and gasps were heard from many people in the room, including McKenna. She pushed her way to where Fred and George had landed with a thump to see if they were alright, but when she got there, she stopped short.

Fred and George were just sitting up, seemingly unharmed, but they had white hair and beards. McKenna didn't know whether to laugh or not. Instead, she bit her lip as she looked down at her friends. Everyone in the room filled in around her and there was complete silence until a small chuckle came from the doorway. It was Professor Dumbledore. "I can't say I didn't warn you," he said, still chuckling slightly. "I think it would be best if you two headed up to the hospital wing and allowed Madam Pomfrey to get rid of those beards, however dashing they may make you look."

McKenna let out a small giggle and Fred's head snapped around to look at her. He was biting his lip and he looked embarrassed and hurt. McKenna stopped laughing and looked back at him, concerned. She didn't get the chance to say anything, because George dragged his twin to his feet and they walked out of the room together.

"I'm going with them," McKenna said to Angelina as the crowd thinned out. "I'm going to find out what's wrong with Fred. Did you see the way he was looking at me?"

"Just now? Yeah, he was embarrassed that you laughed."

"I figured, but why? What Dumbledore said was funny. The beards are funny. I'd have thought Fred would have agreed. I mean, George was on the verge of laughter, so I don't understand why Fred was so embarrassed."

"You mean you don't know?" Anglina asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Know what? Did Fred say something to you about anything?"

"No, but I thought it was obvious. I thought you might have figured it out but were just ignoring it since he's your best guy friend and all. I—well, I'm not going to tell you if you don't know. Fred should tell you. I'm personally happy for him, if my suspicion is right, because of-." She stopped short and clamped her mouth shut.

"What are you talking about? You _do _know something."

"No," Angelina answered, shaking her head, her eyes wide. "Like I said, Fred hasn't actually told me anything, so if my guess is right, I don't think I should be the one to tell you since I'm technically not even supposed to know. You should get him to tell you. I'm not saying a thing."

"But what did you mean when you said you were happy for him and all that?"

"It's nothing, really," Angelina said quickly.

"Fine," McKenna said after a short pause. "I'll see you later." She left the room and headed up the stairs to the hospital wing. When she got there, she saw Fred and George, still bearded, sitting side by side on the edge of a bed near the door while Madame Pomfrey stood at the nightstand, pouring a potion into two cups.

"Kenna!" George said with a smile, waving her over.

Madame Pomfrey glanced at McKenna before turning back to the twins. "Drink this," she said, handing them each a glass of the potion she had been pouring, "You should be back to normal within a few minutes. Honestly, fooling around with potions. It's not safe."

"It was just a simple Aging Potion," George said. McKenna noticed that Fred was oddly silent and he wasn't meeting her gaze. She bit her tongue, though. She couldn't very well say anything with the nurse there.

"This time it was a simple Aging Potion," Madame Pomfrey said, "but next time it'll be something worse. Anyway, drink up and then you may go." With a slight nod at McKenna, she turned and headed for her office.

McKenna sank onto the bed across from the twins and looked at them.

"Don't say it," Fred said, finally looking up at her. "Don't say anything."

"I wasn't planning on it," she answered, knowing exactly what he meant.

"You told us not to do it. You knew Dumbledore wouldn't be that stupid, and you didn't want us to enter anyway. Hermione knew it wouldn't work too. We were just stupid." Fred stared back down into the untouched potion in his hands.

"Drink," McKenna ordered, shooting both of the twins a look. George did as she said at once, wrinkling his nose and quickly setting the glass down. Fred, however, didn't move a muscle. "Fred," McKenna continued, looking at him perplexedly.

"Fred, I know you're embarrassed, but drink up unless you want white hair and a beard forever, which I don't think is a good idea. It's far too old of a look for you," George said.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," McKenna said as Fred finally downed his potion and slid it onto the nightstand beside George's. Their beards were shrinking and their hair was slowly going back to red as they stared at her. "It was funny," she said.

"I agree," George answered at once. "Right, Fred?" He nudged his brother.

"No," Fred said.

"Yes," McKenna argued.

"No," he answered.

"Your beards could've given Dumbledore a run for his money. I think he was jealous. That's probably why he sent you up here and wouldn't let you keep them." McKenna was desperate to make Fred see the hilarity of it all.

Fred finally cracked the tiniest of smiles. McKenna looked up to see George mouth "keep going" to her.

"And think of it this way," she said, "at least we know what you'll look like in sixty years. Don't worry, you age well." She leaned forward and patted his hand. He flipped his hand over and squeezed her fingers in his.

"Alright," he said with a small chuckle. "Maybe it was funny, but I just really wanted it to work."

"Why?" McKenna asked. "That's what I've been trying to figure out. I'm actually really hurt that you won't tell me."

"I've tried a few times, but-,"

"We keep getting interrupted, I know," she finished.

"Fred, just tell her everything," George advised. "I'll sit right here with you."

"Okay," Fred said, running his thumb over the edge of the nail on McKenna's index finger. "The main reason George and I entered the tournament was because we want to open a joke shop when we leave school after next year."

"Yeah, I've always known that was your dream," McKenna said. "That's not news."

"In order to open a shop," Fred said, "we need money, which we don't have."

"None," George added.

"What if you-,"

"Ask our parents? No way. You know they don't have a lot of money as it is," Fred said, shaking his head. "And our mum isn't exactly fond of our joke products. She's still sulking over the fact that George and I only got three OWLs each."

"So you wanted to enter the tournament so that you'd have a shot of winning the money."

"A thousand Galleons," George said longingly.

"Wait," McKenna said, "didn't you start saving up last year? You had a good amount of savings already. Do you still have that?"

Fred blushed. "That's the other thing. It's complicated."

"Try me," McKenna said, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, at the World Cup," Fred began, looking at George, who nodded for him to keep going. "We met Ludo Bagman, who we made a bet with about the outcome of the match. We bet all of our savings and-,"

"You lost?" McKenna asked, moving to sit between the twins, letting Fred keep a hold on her hand. It seemed to be making him feel better.

George shook his head. "We bet that Ireland would lose but Krum would catch the Snitch."

"So you were right," McKenna said. "Impressive. How'd you do it?"

"That's for us to know and nobody to find out. Not even you," Fred said, smirking. His smirk faded quickly, though. "Anyway, Bagman paid up, but it was leprechaun gold. The next morning it was gone."

"Why? Why didn't he pay you in real money?"

"We don't know!" Fred exclaimed, hitting his free hand against the bed. "He won't meet with us in person, so George and I were thinking of sending him a letter. If that doesn't work, we're going to have to try another way."

"That's what you two were always talking about on your own," McKenna said.

Fred and George nodded. "You got it. It's what we've been hiding from you," Fred said.

"Why didn't you tell me straight away? I don't care about any of it. I don't care that you don't have a lot of money. I do think it was risky to bet all of your savings, although you did win, and it was completely unfair that Bagman didn't pay you. You deserve to be paid in real money."

"Fred, I think you should answer this," George smirked. "You see, Kenna, I wanted to tell you. I knew you wouldn't care, but Fred became paranoid that you would all of a sudden."

"Yeah," McKenna said, narrowing her eyes at Fred. "There's something extra strange going on with you lately. And why were you so embarrassed about the beard and not being able to enter the tournament and get the money? George is nowhere near as self conscious and embarrassed as you are."

"Well," Fred said. "I really wanted to enter the tournament and do all of those tasks because I thought that then-,"

"Is this a room for sick people or social butterflies?" Madame Pomfrey snapped, coming out of her office.

"Sick people, judging by the smell of medicine," George said.

"Precisely, so I suggest you head on out, unless you are still sick."

"No, we're fine," Fred said, jumping up and pulling McKenna out the door, George at their heels.

"So, continue," McKenna ordered as they walked down the hallway. "You thought that if you entered the tournament…" she prodded.

Fred looked down at their hands before dropping McKenna's small fingers from his and putting his hands in his pockets. "Never mind, the mood was ruined." With that, he quickly took off at a fast walk down the hallway.

"Fred!" George yelled, running after him. "You were in a hospital wing! There wasn't much of a mood to begin with!"

McKenna would have let out a laugh, but instead, she stopped in her tracks, confused. There was still something that Fred was hiding from her and she really wished he would tell her what it was. Besides that, she still couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened between him and Angelina. She had sensed it back in January, and Angelina's secrecy earlier had strengthened that feeling. She didn't know what do make of any of it. She felt like her relationship was falling apart and she didn't know how to fix it.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! Thanks to anyone who's reviewed so far :)**


	10. Chapter 10

_"Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war. Love is a growing up."_ **–James Baldwin**

* * *

><p>McKenna sat in the common room that night, staring down at her homework. She didn't even notice Angelina come in until she sat down on the couch next to her. "Kenna?"<p>

"Hey, Angelina," McKenna answered.

"Did you talk to Fred?"

"Yeah, he told me everything. Well, mostly everything, anyway."

"Oh, so he told you how he's-,"

"Planning on opening a joke shop with George but has no money? Yeah, he told me that. They bet all their savings on the World Cup and now Bagman-,"

"Bagman?" Angelina asked, looking confused.

"Yeah, I thought you said you had all of this figured out."

"Kenna, I think we're talking about two different things. What I'm talking about must've been something Fred hasn't told you."

"We were interrupted by Madam Pomfrey," McKenna said, "and then Fred wouldn't tell me whatever else he had been about to say. The interruption ruined it for him, I guess."

"Yeah, I guess so," Angelina said slowly.

"So, what's going on with you girls?" Fred and George seemed to appear out of nowhere. Fred sat on McKenna's other side while George sat on the arm of the opposite side of the couch.

"Nothing, just girl talk," Angelina said with a small smile.

"Oh, we get it," George said. "You're trying to get rid of us. Are we not wanted?"

"Of course you are," Angelina said, laughing.

"Are you okay?" McKenna asked Fred as Angelina and George started a conversation.

"Yeah," Fred answered. He did look a lot better than he had earlier that day. "It feels good to have gotten all of that off my chest. I should have told you sooner."

"Yeah, you should have," she teased.

"Will you tell me what's going on with you now?" Fred asked. "Why were you acting so strange around Oliver?"

McKenna hesitated before shaking her head. "No, I won't tell you. You still haven't finished telling me everything."

"Yes, I did," Fred answered quickly. "And who says I have to tell you everything before you tell me everything?"

"I asked you what was wrong first," she said, "and no, you haven't told me everything. I know there's more."

"Okay," Fred said with a sigh. He turned towards McKenna and picked up one of her hands. McKenna glanced over her shoulder to see that George and Angelina were gone. She saw them over in the corner with Lee, Alicia and Katie. "Kenna," Fred said, reaching up and turning her head back to face him, "focus."

"Sorry," she said. "Go ahead, tell me."

"It's something I've only realized recently, but I really think, actually, I know—I'm ninety-nine percent sure—no, one hundred percent sure-,"

"Just tell me, Fred," she laughed.

"Kenna, I really-," he began, but suddenly, McKenna's eyes flew to the portrait hole. She was aware that Fred had stopped talking and was watching her, but she had just seen Oliver come into the common room. She hadn't seen much of him since the day before when the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had arrived, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to.

"Kenna?" Fred asked.

She barely heard him. She was too busy watching Oliver, her heart pounding nervously. He met her eyes and half smiled. She half smiled back and then realized he was heading towards her and Fred. She half wanted to leave, but she really couldn't now. Plus, she couldn't get herself to move except to slide her hand out of Fred's grasp.

"Hi, Kenna," Oliver said. McKenna saw Fred tense up out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't sure why he had, but she ignored it.

"Hi," she squeaked.

Fred cleared his throat and awkwardly looked at the ground. McKenna bit her lip as she waited for someone to say something.

"Hi, Oliver," Fred said finally.

Oliver nodded slightly. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Actually—," McKenna began.

"No," Fred said, sounding upset.

"Okay, good," Oliver said, smiling, "because I wanted to talk to Kenna for a little bit."

"Go for it," Fred answered, standing up and heading towards George.

"Fred?" McKenna said, but he just shook his head and continued to walk away.

"What's wrong with him?" Oliver asked.

"I have no idea," McKenna said as she watched Fred walk away. "He's been acting very strange lately."

"Well, can I talk to you?" Oliver asked.

"Sure," she agreed, standing up and following him towards the portrait hole. On her way out, she looked back at Fred. He was watching her leave with an expression that was half angry and half sad. She felt somewhat guilty about leaving him in the middle of their conversation. It had been an important one too, but Oliver coming over and then wanting to talk to her had thrown her off. Plus, Fred was the one who had gotten up and left, putting an end to their conversation before McKenna could.

"Are you coming?" Oliver asked.

She nodded and let him lead her from the room. "So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked shakily.

"We haven't really talked since the summer," Oliver began.

"I know," she answered quietly.

"What I really wanted was to make sure that you were okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine," McKenna said after a brief pause.

"Okay," Oliver answered. "I know we talked quite a bit over the summer and then-," he stopped and let out a sigh.

"Yeah," McKenna said. She didn't want to think about it. Doing that would remind her of how hurt she had been at the time.

"I also wanted to know if we were okay. Can we still be friends?"

McKenna looked up at him and bit her lip. "Yeah, I think we can do that."

Oliver reached out and hesitantly grabbed her hand. "Good," he said. "This may be too much to ask right now, but do you think we can ever get back to the point we were at over the summer?"

"I don't know," she began, but it was hard to think straight. He was holding her hand and she couldn't stop thinking about how cute he was, but she also kept thinking of the summer and how hurt she had been. She also kept thinking about the possible feelings she had felt for Fred not too long ago. She felt very confused about what to do. "Maybe," she finally answered.

"Okay, I think I can live with that," Oliver answered. "Maybe I can turn it into a yes."

McKenna half smiled. "Yeah, maybe you can." She doubted it, though. It was odd, but she did.

They stood in silence for a few moments, not talking. They jumped when the portrait hole opened and Fred stuck his head out. "Hey, McKenna, do you want to come play Exploding Snap with-," he stopped and looked at her and Oliver's hands. "Oh, well I guess I interrupted something important," he said. "I wouldn't know, since McKenna won't tell me anything."

"Fred," McKenna said, dropping Oliver's hand and looking at Fred angrily.

"No, just forget it. I'm not even sure I want to know anyway." With that, Fred turned and went back into the common room. By the time McKenna had said the password and gone inside, he was already halfway up the stairs to the boy's dorm.

"What's going on with him?" Oliver asked perplexedly, stepping up behind McKenna.

She shook her head. "He's being very odd." When she caught George's eye across the room, he gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head and shrugged. She saw George let out a sigh before following Fred upstairs.

"I think I'm going to bed, Oliver," she said.

"Wait," he said, grabbing her arm. "Goodnight," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. He smiled and walked away to join his friends.

McKenna dashed up to her dorm and sat on her bed, putting her head in her hands.

"What was that?"

McKenna looked up to see Angelina in the doorway. Angelina was looking at her with wide eyes.

"Angelina, I don't need this right now."

"I thought you were done with Oliver. We both agreed it was better to put an end to any kind of relationship with him."

"He wants to be friends."

"It didn't look like you were being 'just friends' down there," Angelina said.

"I think he still likes me," McKenna said, finally raising her head. "He wants to get back to the way we were over the summer."

"That's a load of crap," Angelina said. "How can he say that after what happened? How can he truly mean it? How can you trust him? Don't get me wrong, he's been my Quidditch captain for years and he's a good guy, but what happened over the summer, that wasn't right."

"I don't know what to do," McKenna said. "I told him maybe. Maybe we can go back to how we were. I need time to think."

"You should have just told him no straight away," Angelina said, sitting down on her bed that was next to McKenna. "Do you still like him?"

"He is really cute," McKenna said, "but that doesn't mean anything. He's funny and nice and smart as well. Well, the whole summer incident wasn't really nice, but it was just a mistake."

"Uh-huh," Angelina said, staring at McKenna. "That didn't answer my question."

"I don't know," McKenna said. "Am I just being desperate?"

Angelina was quiet for a minute. "All I'm going to tell you is that if you really like him then go for it. Only you know how you feel, but if you have any doubts, or start to have any doubts then don't go out with him. Don't do anything that you don't feel completely right doing."

McKenna nodded and grabbed her pillow, pulling it tightly to her chest.

"I'll be downstairs. I think Katie, Alicia, Lee and I are going to still play Exploding Snap. Fred and George, too if they come back downstairs. So, if you want to play, just come down."

McKenna nodded again as Angelina left the room. Once her friend was gone, McKenna let out a sigh of frustration and pulled her pillow over her face in annoyance.

* * *

><p>"<em>What<em> is going on?" George asked, forcefully shutting the door to his dorm. Fred was changing into his pajamas, a look of anger and hurt on his face.

"Every. Single. Time." He yanked off his tie and threw it over his head. George caught it and stuck it on top of Fred's trunk.

"Every single time, what?" George asked.

"Every time I try to tell McKenna anything, we get interrupted. I'm surprised I even managed to get out the news about Bagman and the fact that we have no money."

"It's rotten luck," George said sympathetically.

"It's like I'm cursed," Fred said, kicking off his shoes so forcefully that they slid all the way under the bed and out the other side.

"What was going on when you went out in the hallway?" George asked, nudging Fred's shoes to the end of his bed.

"She was with Oliver," Fred said, almost growling out Oliver's name. "He was holding her hand."

"So, she was out in the hallway, talking to Oliver privately and holding his hand," George began.

"And there's something going on between those two that she won't tell me, even though I told her about Bagman. She says I still haven't told her all of it."

"She's right," George said.

Fred let out a groan and flopped face down across his bed, letting his head dangle over one side and his feet over the other.

"Sorry," George said quietly.

"It's not your fault," Fred said. "I'm just a mess and I can't even tell a girl I like her."

"You would have if it wasn't for all of those interruptions."

"Maybe I should just quit and not tell her. Clearly, it's not meant to happen. She's just going to go with Oliver and I'm going to be stuck never having told her."

"You could just yell it over breakfast one morning," George suggested.

"Yeah, right," Fred mumbled.

"I'm sure it'll all work out okay in the end, Fred. I know that sounds cliché, but I really do believe it. I mean, maybe it didn't work out with Angelina for a reason."

"Yeah, well, I hope you're right."

"For your poor hearts sake," George said with a laugh. Fred threw a pillow at him.

"Why do I have to tell her about Angelina anyway? Shouldn't Angelina tell her? I still don't understand why I should do it. I mean, I honestly don't think McKenna cares."

"Of course she cares. You suspect something went on between her and Oliver over the summer and you care. You want to know what went down between them and I think she would feel the same way. Plus, she is one of your best friends, who you like, and you used to like her best girl friend. I think it might be better to just let her know."

"I still don't think I should tell her. It's pointless," Fred said. "Right now, I want to worry about telling her that I like her."

"Yeah, do that first," George laughed. "Try to do it before we turn eighty, though." Fred threw another pillow at him that missed and knocked over a lamp on the other side of the room.

"Whoops," Fred said lazily. "Someone else can get that."

"Agreed," George said, climbing into his own bed. "Goodnight, Freddie."

"Goodnight, Georgie." Fred smiled over at his twin before reaching over and turning off the light.

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I love to read them! **


	11. Chapter 11

"_The more boys I meet, the more I love my dog."_ **–Carrie Underwood**

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><p>It was finally time for the feast where the champions would be chosen. It was Sunday and McKenna hadn't seen Fred all day. All she wanted to do was talk to him and now she had to wonder if he was avoiding her. Of course, he could just have been dealing with Bagman, but he didn't have to completely disappear to do that.<p>

She walked to the Great Hall with Angelina and they took seats next to Alicia and Lee. "Where's Katie?" Angelina asked.

"With George," Lee answered. "They'll be down shortly."

"Of course George has time to see Katie," McKenna mumbled, "but when I need to talk to Fred, I can't find him. Where have they been all day anyway?"

"I don't know. I've seen them around briefly a few times, but they were always speaking in whispers. Katie probably just met up with George not too long ago," Angelina answered with a frown. "They still haven't fully told me what's going on. Everything I've heard, I've heard from you, so I'm assuming this all has to do with Bagman?"

McKenna nodded. "I'm guessing it does. They haven't really talked to me about it since they first told me. Of course, I've hardly gotten to talk to them since then anyway."

"Why do you care so much?" Angelina asked. Her tone wasn't mean, just curious.

McKenna shrugged. "I don't know what's going on between us. Especially between me and Fred. They're two of my best friends and I feel like we're always on edge with each other."

Angelina gave her a sympathetic smile and shrugged. Then, her eyes widened as she looked over McKenna's shoulder. McKenna turned and saw Oliver standing there.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she answered. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for dinner and to see who gets picked as champions, of course," Oliver said with a laugh. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

"No, go ahead," McKenna answered quietly. As Oliver sat down, McKenna looked up and saw Fred, George and Katie standing halfway between McKenna's seat and the doorway. They had obviously just come in. George was looking at her and Oliver nervously and Fred was looking upset. Could he still be upset with her about last night? He had never been one to stay mad at someone for long. Plus, it wasn't such a big deal. Their conversation had simply gotten interrupted. Sure, it had been about the fifth time it had happened, but it was no reason to still be incredibly angry.

McKenna decided she should do something, so she gave a small wave in their direction. George waved back and so did Katie, but Fred wordlessly marched past her and took a seat on the other side of Alicia. George and Katie silently followed him.

"What is going on with them?" McKenna asked, squinting down the table at Fred and George. Fred was talking to Alicia as if he just wanted an excuse to not have to look at McKenna.

"I can't believe you have no idea," Angelina said.

"Oh, like they've told you anything," McKenna said. "You're just going on a hunch. You said so the other day."

"It's a very good hunch," Angelina answered, "but I really don't think I should say anything."

"Why?" McKenna asked.

"Now is not the time," Angelina replied, shooting a glance in Oliver's direction.

Throughout the entire meal, Oliver kept making conversation with McKenna and she felt herself relaxing around him. It seemed that while she probably wouldn't forget what had happened over the summer, she could at least move past it.

Finally, the dishes were cleared and the entire room fell utterly silent as Dumbledore stood up. "Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," he said. "I expect that it requires one more minute. Now, when the names of the champions are called, I would like them to please come up here before passing through this door," he gestured to a door behind the staff table, "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

"You know," Fred whispered down the table, shooting a glance at Oliver. "I really hope _Angelina_ gets it. It would be nice to have a Gryffindor in the tournament."

"Thanks, Fred," Angelina said slowly.

"More than one Gryffindor entered," Oliver whispered back.

"I know, but Angelina's my friend," Fred argued.

"What am I, moldy cheese?" Oliver asked.

Fred just shrugged and turned back to the front. McKenna crumpled up her napkin and threw it at him. It hit the back of his head and he turned around. "What?" he mouthed.

"What is wrong with you?" she hissed, glaring at him.

A flicker of hurt flashed across Fred's face, but he covered it quickly, shrugged again and turned around. McKenna scowled at the back of his head. She had had enough.

Before she could do anything, though, Dumbledore began dimming the candles and lamps around the room, making the Goblet of Fire's blue glue seem even brighter. Suddenly, the light changed from blue to red and a burst of flame shot a piece of paper out of the goblet. Dumbledore caught it and held it in the light of the goblet so that he could see. "The champion from Durmstrang," he read, "will be Viktor Krum."

"No surprises there," McKenna heard Ron yell as everyone clapped wildly.

The applause died quickly as Viktor went into the next room and everyone turned back to the goblet, which was turning red again. Another slip of paper flew out and into Dumbledore's hands.

"The champion from Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour," Dumbledore said.

There was another round of loud applause as a blonde girl stood up, smiling widely and walked gracefully into the back room.

"Oliver, stop drooling," Angelina said, leaning across McKenna. When she turned to look, she noticed that Oliver, along with almost every other boy in the room was watching the Fleur girl leave. Of course, that included Fred and the realization made McKenna want to sulk in her room for a while. She shook her head to get the thought out. She shouldn't care what Fred was doing. He was being annoying.

"What is that girl, part veela or something?" McKenna whispered.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Angelina snorted.

"Anyway, the Hogwarts champion is next," McKenna whispered to Angelina. "Good luck."

"Thanks," she said with a grin.

"What about me?" Oliver teased.

"Good luck to you too," McKenna giggled. Oliver reached over and nervously squeezed her hand. McKenna froze for a second before relaxing and giving his hand a quick squeeze back.

For the third time, the goblet of fire turned a bright red and shot out a third piece of paper that once again, Dumbledore caught. "The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!"

Every single person at the Hufflepuff table jumped to their feet, screaming and clapping as Cedric stood up and made his way to the front of the room.

"Sorry it wasn't one of you two," McKenna said to Angelina and Oliver.

"Oh, it's okay," Oliver said. "I'm sure just watching will be—woah."

McKenna whirled around in her seat to see the Goblet of Fire turning red again. Again? This wasn't making sense. It was only supposed to choose three names. Silence returned all too quickly as everyone's attention turned back to the goblet. Dumbledore stared up at it as a fourth paper flew out. Dumbledore caught it and read it, his lips moving as he mouthed the name to himself.

"What does it say?" someone called out.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and looked towards the Gryffindor table. "Harry Potter."

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**


	12. Chapter 12

"_That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty you fall half in love with them and then you never know where the hell you are."_**—**_**The Catcher in the Rye**_** by J.D. Salinger**

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><p>"I don't understand," McKenna muttered as she walked back up to the common room with Angelina and Alicia. The champions had still been in the back room when the feast had ended. Oliver had gone on ahead with some friends, and McKenna was more than aware of Fred, George, Lee and Katie walking behind them, but she decided to ignore them at the moment.<p>

"It doesn't make sense to me either," Angelina said. "How could both the Age Line and the goblet be tricked? There are only three schools and the goblet knows to pick only one from each school."

"Maybe he put his name in under a different school," Alicia said.

"How did he do it?" Ron asked, coming up next to them with Hermione. "How did he get past the Age Line?"

"Without getting a beard?" George added, coming up next to them as well, Fred and Lee at his side.

"You're asking the wrong people," McKenna said, shaking her head.

"Maybe Harry didn't even do it at all," Hermione chimed in.

"You think someone did it for him?" Lee asked.

"It's possible," she said. "I really don't think Harry wanted to be a part of this tournament and he had no idea how to get past the Age Line. None of us did. We aren't powerful enough to fool something like that."

"He told me that he would have put his name in at night if he were entering," Ron said. "He said he didn't want everyone watching."

"That has nothing to do with the Age Line, Ron," Hermione said.

"But if someone did put in Harry's name, who was it and why?" Fred asked.

Nobody answered him. Everyone simply shrugged and shook their heads.

"Well, in any case, it seems as if a party is in order," George said. "Harry's still a champion and we need to celebrate."

"George, Katie and I are going to sneak some food from the kitchens. Anyone want to come?" Fred asked.

"No, we'll meet you up there," Angelina said. The others muttered their agreement, except McKenna.

"I'll come," she offered. Fred looked at her before nodding in agreement.

"Well come on then," he said. "We have to get the food and make it back to the common room before Harry gets back."

McKenna set off in the opposite direction from the others with Fred, George, and Katie. She nervously played with a loose thread on her uniform. Now that she could actually try to talk to Fred, she was nervous.

"Fred," she began quietly, looking up at him. They were walking a little behind George and Katie and she didn't really want them to overhear.

"Hm?" he replied, glancing at her.

"I'm sorry for whatever you're mad at me for. If this is about Oliver interrupting us, then I'm sorry. You can blame me for it if you want, but you don't have to be so rude to Oliver. I didn't know he was going to talk to me and interrupt us, and I-,"

"It's not that," he said.

"It's not?"

"No, I'm not mad at Oliver just for interrupting us. It's more than that."

"I don't understand."

"There's just so much going on right now…"

"That's what you say to everything! Fred, talk to me, please," she begged. "You're honestly worrying me. I'm scared that our friendship is, well, going down the tubes."

"Every time I try to talk to you, we get interrupted, so why bother?" he said.

"Well, I'm sorry that you're mad at me. I don't want you to be."

"I'm not mad at you," he answered. "I'm just…upset about things."

"I guess I can't get you to tell me anything right now?"

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"Okay," she answered quietly. "Bagman was at the feast, did you notice?"

"Yeah, we noticed," Fred answered through gritted teeth.

"Did you get a chance to talk to him?"

"No," Fred answered, his teeth still gritted.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"It's not you," Fred said.

"Okay, whatever," she said again, falling silent and feeling somewhat worse than she had before she had talked to Fred.

* * *

><p>"You should have told us you'd entered!" Fred yelled the second he saw Harry enter the common room.<p>

"How did you do it without getting a beard?" George asked. "We've all been wondering."

"I didn't," Harry said flatly.

"You'll be able to pay Diggory back for the Quidditch match when you fell off your broom," Katie said.

"At least another Gryffindor got in if it wasn't me or Oliver," Angelina said. Fred involuntarily scowled at the mention of Oliver's name. He and Oliver had always gotten along fairly well, but now that Fred knew there was something going on between him and McKenna, he found himself liking the boy less and less.

"We've got food, Harry," Katie said, "come and have some."

Fred and George retreated to the other side of the room. They each grabbed some food before taking seats on the couch.

"Where's McKenna?" George asked.

"Over there, doing her homework," Fred said, gesturing to the corner of the room. He kept his eyes on the fire and didn't look up.

"She's miserable," George said.

"No, she's not. I told her that I'm not mad at her. I'm just dealing with a lot."

"Yeah, but you haven't really proved it. You've been practically avoiding her since you caught her with Oliver last night. You have to tell her you like her."

"And hear what? That she likes Oliver and all I am to her is a second brother? A best friend? I don't know if I want to say anything until I'm sure she likes me."

"Who likes you?" Ironically enough, Cody, McKenna's brother, sat down next to Fred with a box of Every Flavor Beans in his hand.

"Nobody," Fred answered dismally.

"Funny, because I always thought my sister liked you," Cody said.

"What?" Fred said, choking on his butterbeer as George's eyebrows shot up in amusement.

"I don't know. I could be wrong, but I always kind of assumed in the back of my mind that you would end up dating her."

"Doesn't she like Oliver, though?"

"I don't know. I think he likes her. She liked him over the summer, but then-,"

"Cody!" shrieked a voice from behind them.

"McKenna!" Cody said, jumping up. "I didn't know you were there."

"Yeah, that's why you were telling everyone about my private life."

"It's just Fred and George," Cody said. "Really, why is everyone acting so odd lately?" He shook his head and walked away.

"You liked Oliver over the summer?" Fred asked. To him, it sounded like a squeak. "Do you still?"

McKenna simply stared at him. "That's my business, not yours."

"Have it your way, then," Fred said, turning away. He was sick of not getting any information from her. He could understand that maybe it was hard to talk about, but he and McKenna had always been able to talk to each other. Plus, if Oliver had upset her, he was going to hit a Bludger at his head.

"Didn't something happen between you and Angelina last year? If you asked me, I'd say you like her, which is perfectly fine with me. I think you should be allowed to like who you want and I can like who I want, so you should stop being so weird about me and Oliver."

"What?" Fred spluttered. "Angelina? How do you—what makes you think that?"

"I'm not stupid. I know something weird was going on with you two last year. She dated someone else, but then she broke up with him. I don't' know who it was. She wouldn't tell me. But anyway, it's because you two like each other, isn't it?"

"That's my business, not yours," Fred said, narrowing his eyes as he repeated McKenna's words from earlier.

"Fine," she answered.

"Yeah, fine," Fred snapped. "Just go ahead and beg me to tell you stuff, but then keep your own little secrets."

He saw McKenna freeze out of the corner of his eye but he didn't turn. Then, she spun on her heel and raced up the stairs to her dorm. Fred instantly felt horrible and he looked to see George staring at him intently. "What?" he asked.

"I think you might be making it worse," George whispered.

"I think you're right," Fred agreed, "but I can't help it."

* * *

><p>Over the next few weeks, talk about the tournament and Harry's selection as a champion was all anyone ever talked about. Nobody seemed to believe that he hadn't put his name in himself, but they didn't have any ideas on <em>how<em> he could have put his name in. McKenna had noticed almost all of the Slytherins and a good number of Hufflepuffs wearing badges that said _Potter Stinks_ on them.

"Really," she sighed one day, scooping up a stray badge off the floor and tossing it into a trash bin. "Don't people have anything better to do?"

"Apparently not," Angelina shrugged.

"So you don't like the badges?" McKenna turned to see Draco Malfoy walking behind them with Crabbe and Goyle. "I put a lot of hard work into those."

"I should have known," McKenna said.

Malfoy actually reached into the trash bin and pulled out the discarded badge. "Are you sure you two don't want one?"

"More than sure," Angelina scoffed.

"Of course you don't want one. You're too busy being _loyal_ to Potter. That's what Gryffindor's do isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is and yes we are," McKenna snapped.

"He's a cheat," Malfoy said as McKenna and Angelina turned to walk away. "He's not supposed to even have entered the tournament."

"And you're not supposed to look as ugly as you do," said a voice, "but it's not my fault your mother sat on you when you were a baby." Fred was coming down the hallway with his hands in his pockets. McKenna bit her lip to keep from laughing. She didn't know why Fred was defending her, though. She had thought he was mad at her. They had barely spoken in weeks.

"You're one to talk," Malfoy snapped. "I'm surprised your mother was careless enough to sit on _seven_ children."

"That wasn't even a good comeback," Fred said, his face expressionless.

"She certainly _looks_ like she does a lot of sitting," Malfoy continued.

Fred made a dive for Malfoy, but Angelina and McKenna grabbed his arms, holding him back. Malfoy took a few steps away and Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles.

"They aren't even scary," McKenna said.

"What?" Malfoy asked.

McKenna nodded towards Crabbe and Goyle. "They may look tough, but everyone knows their heads are filled with saw dust. And yet, you still choose to hide behind them because you're just too much of a coward to face people yourself."

"Who are you calling a coward?" Malfoy snapped. "And anyway, it's better than being a lousy, ugly, stuck up Gryffindor."

"Shut it, Malfoy!" Angelina yelled as Fred struggled even more against her and McKenna's grip.

"Let me get my wand," he said. When Malfoy heard that, he took off running down the hallway, Crabbe and Goyle close behind. It was only then that Angelina and McKenna let him go.

"I thought you were mad at me," McKenna said.

"Maybe I got a little frustrated with you before," he said quietly, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to let Malfoy insult you. You're still one of my best friends. That's not going to change any time soon."

"Why haven't we spoken in forever?" she whispered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Angelina sneaking away, mouthing goodbye over her shoulder. McKenna and Fred waved and watched her disappear.

"Listen to me," Fred sighed, closing his eyes. He pulled McKenna into a hug and rested his chin on her head. "One day, before this year is over, I promise we will sit down somewhere where no one can find us and we'll talk. We'll figure out everything and tell each other everything we've been keeping this year, but right now, I have a lot going on. Bagman's not cracking and George and I don't really know what to do. We can't tell our parents, so we're on our own."

"But you aren't," McKenna protested. She pulled away from Fred and looked up at him. "You have me, if you'd only talk to me. You have Lee and Angelina as well, and Katie and Alicia and your brothers and Ginny."

"We can't tell anyone," Fred said, shaking his head. "We got ourselves into this mess and now we have to get out of it. We were the dumb ones."

"You weren't dumb," McKenna said. "You were being hopeful."

"Whatever you call it, we have no money," Fred sighed, "but anyway, is it a deal? We'll talk soon."

"Sure, but when is 'soon', exactly?"

"I'll let you know," he answered, backing away.

"Fred," she said warningly.

"I will. I promise. You know I never back down on promises." With that, he turned and ran.

"Fred Weasley," McKenna yelled, running after him, but either he was too fast or had dived into a secret passageway, because he was gone when she turned the corner.

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!**


	13. Chapter 13

"_These girls, they're going to kill me, Harry." _**–Ron Weasley**

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><p>"What is wrong with me, George?" Fred asked as they waited by the castle's front doors. They were waiting for Angelina, Katie, Alicia, Lee and McKenna to meet them so they could go down to the first task together.<p>

"There's a lot wrong with you, Fred," George answered.

"No, I'm serious," Fred said. "I'm messing things up with McKenna over something so stupid. One minute I'm mad at her and the next I'm not because I can't forget how much I like her."

"Yeah, it does seem like you can't make up your mind around her," George said.

"Not helping," Fred groaned, shifting from one foot to the other.

"Sorry," George shrugged. "I don't understand why you can't just tell her you like her. If you're so worried about Oliver getting in the way, why don't you just beat him to it?"

"For one thing, we keep getting interrupted," Fred said. "Secondly, didn't you hear what Cody said? He thinks Oliver likes her and he said McKenna liked him over the summer."

"That doesn't mean she still does."

"She was holding his hand outside the common room. They sat together at the feast when the champions were chosen and lately I've seen them talking more than they ever did before."

"Yeah, those are dead giveaways," George said sarcastically. "I mean, did you ever think they could be just friends?"

"Definitely not after what Cody said," Fred answered, "and anyway, do friends hold hands?"

"Sometimes, I guess," George shrugged. "Was he holding her hand in a friendly way or a romantic way?"

"What's the difference?"

"How should I know?" George asked. "Anyway, here they come."

He was right. The girls and Lee were coming down the staircase, Lee running ahead and the girls walking in pairs behind him.

"What are those?" McKenna asked when she reached them. She was pointing to the boxes in Fred and George's hands.

"We're taking bets on who will do the best in the first task," George said.

"Wanna place a bet?" Fred asked.

"No," McKenna said with a laugh. "You shouldn't be taking people's money anyway."

"Yeah, tell that to Bagman," Fred muttered.

"You gave it to him," McKenna argued.

"Yeah, exactly, and the people betting today will be giving their money to us. Their decision," George said quickly. "Besides, what's a tournament without any betting going on? Now, let's go. Every second we wait here is a second we aren't taking bets."

"You two," Angelina laughed.

"You love us," Fred said, throwing his arm around her. McKenna felt an odd sickening feeling. She knew she shouldn't care if Fred put his arm around Angelina. They were close friends and nothing more. But what if they were? What if they were starting to think of each other as more than friends? Or what if her suspicion was correct and they had been thinking of each other in that way for a while? It shouldn't matter, she argued with herself. Things seemed to be getting better with Oliver, and Fred was her best friend. He could like anyone he wanted. Maybe she had thought she had feelings for Fred, but she really couldn't have. She couldn't like him. It simply wouldn't work out.

As she was talking herself out of her sudden wave of strange thoughts, Fred knocked on her head. "Are you coming, or are you going to stare absentmindedly at the wall all day?"

"I'm coming," she said quickly.

"You've sure been spacing out a lot," Fred said, sticking his hands in his jacket pockets as they followed the others down to the arena where the first task was going to be held.

"Sorry," McKenna mumbled.

"Nothing to apologize about," Fred said. "It was just something I noticed."

"Okay," McKenna said.

"What's with the one word answers?" Fred asked.

"Nothing," she said. Fred raised an eyebrow. "Sorry," she added. "That was two words."

"Is it because of me?"

"No," she answered. That was a big fat lie. Of course it was about him. Everything seemed to be about him lately.

"Back to the one word answers," Fred teased.

"No, it's not about you. Five words." McKenna held up five fingers and wiggled them in his face.

"Excellent, you're improving," he said. McKenna gave him a look and he smirked. "So, where's Oliver?"

"Why do you care?"

"I was just wondering. I didn't know you hung out with him and then I find out that something was going on with you two over the summer and now you're talking all the time. I just want to know what's going on."

"Are you writing a book about it or something?" McKenna asked, raising her eyebrow.

"No, are you writing a book about me?"

"No," she answered.

"Well you sure seemed to be full of questions for me before I told you about Bagman. In fact, you still are."

"Yeah, such as do you like Angelina or not?"

"Will you shut up about that?" Fred snapped. "I could say the same thing about you and Oliver."

"Fair point," McKenna sighed. "Alright, remember when you said we would sit down and talk about everything?" She glanced at Fred and saw him nodding so she continued. "When we do, I'll tell you everything that happened with Oliver, but you have to tell me all about Angelina. I know there's something up. Don't deny it."

"You're telling him about Oliver?" Cody was walking with his friends and called over to her before Fred could answer.

"Not now," McKenna hissed.

Cody looked at Fred. "You're not going to like him very much after she tells you. I didn't, that's for sure."

"Why, what'd he do?" Fred asked, his eyes widening.

"It's really nothing that major, but it's just that—I'll shut up now." Cody shut up quickly and hurried away when McKenna shot him a death glare.

"McKenna," Fred said pleadingly. "I think it's better if you told me sooner rather than later."

"Why?" McKenna snapped.

"I care about you and-,"

"You don't need to protect me," she interrupted. Tears were actually coming to her eyes. "I'm a big girl." With that, she ran ahead, leaving a speechless and shocked Fred behind.

* * *

><p>"Go on, Harry, open it," Lee Jordan prodded that night. It seemed as if the entirety of Gryffindor house was crowded into the common room and surrounding Harry. McKenna was standing a few people away from Fred and she could tell he was trying to catch her eye, but she refused to look over at him. Instead, she focused on looking at Harry.<p>

"Harry's supposed to work out the clue on his own," Hermione said swiftly.

"We didn't say we wanted to help him with the clue," Fred said. "We just want him to open it." McKenna took a chance and looked over at him. He was still looking at her. She mentally cursed and clenched her teeth, but didn't look away.

"Can we talk?" Fred mouthed.

She gave him a look that clearly said 'not here.' It certainly wasn't the time or place to be discussing the situation.

"Yeah, go on, open it, Harry," Seamus called. The egg was making its way around the room from person to person and when Seamus got hold of it, he passed it to Harry.

"Alright, who wants me to open it?" Harry smirked and held up the egg. A cheer went through the crowd. McKenna had to admit that she was curious herself. Harry pried the egg open and promptly dropped it as it let out a loud, screeching sound. Everyone covered their ears.

"Shut it!" Fred yelled.

Harry kicked the egg shut as if he didn't want to get any closer to the horrible sound. McKenna couldn't blame him. It was a horrible noise.

"It sounded like a banshee," Seamus said once it was quiet again. "Maybe you've got to fight one of those next."

"I thought it sounded like someone getting tortured," Neville said. His face was white and he was scooping up the books he had dropped on the floor. "Maybe you have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"

"They can't," McKenna said. "It's illegal."

"That's right," George agreed. "Personally, I thought it sounded like Percy singing. Maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower, Harry."

Harry wordlessly bent down and picked up the egg. "How am I going to figure it out if I can't even open it?"

"That's all part of the clue," Hermione said.

"Some clue," Ron muttered.

"The clues and tasks are designed to test-,"

"Hey, Hermione," Fred said loudly, reaching behind him and picking up a tray, "shut up and have a jam tart."

"What'd you put in them?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing!" Fred gasped innocently. "Honestly, these are fine. It's the custard creams you've got to watch out for."

Neville, who had just taken a bite of one, spit it out into a napkin.

"Relax, Neville," Fred laughed.

"When did you go down to the kitchens?" McKenna asked.

"After the task ended," Fred answered, setting down the tray and dusting off his hands. "Why?"

"No reason. I just didn't know you went."

"Well, you wouldn't, would you?" Fred said with a tiny smile. "You were too busy giving me the cold shoulder."

"Yeah, I-,"

"You got all this stuff from the kitchens?" Hermione asked, sniffing.

"Yeah, the house elves are very helpful. They'd get anyone anything they wanted."

"How do you get in there?" Hermione asked, folding up a napkin into a tiny square and not meeting Fred's eye.

"Easy," Fred said. "It's concealed by a painting of a bowl of fruit. You just tickle the pear and—." Before he could finish, Neville suddenly turned into a large canary with a popping noise.

"Oh, sorry, Neville," George said, laughing. "I guess it was the custard creams we hexed."

A minute later, Neville had turned back to his regular self and began to laugh with everyone else.

"Canary Creams!" Fred yelled. "George and I invented them. They're Seven Sickles each!"

"You invented something?" McKenna asked. "And you're selling it?"

"Yeah," Fred said. "You'd know if you had been speaking to me."

"I was speaking to you. The only time I didn't speak to you was during the task and up until now. You couldn't have possibly invented this in that time."

"No, we invented them a few weeks ago, but we weren't talking then, either."

"That's not entirely my fault. I would've spoken to you if you had spoken to me."

"Oh, so it's all up to me now?" Fred asked. McKenna didn't answer, so he continued. "Anyway, we only made the decision to start selling them today," Fred said with a shrug. "We need the money, Kenna, you know that."

"I do and I don't care that you don't have money. It doesn't matter to me. I just wish you had said something."

"You're not telling me everything," Fred said, "and what you're not telling me is a lot more important than me not telling you about one invention."

"How do you know? And I'd say you're hiding something pretty big, too and maybe I just don't want to know what it is anymore! I'm sick of all of these secrets. Let's just forget it, forget everything."

"You're mad because I didn't tell you I invented something?"

"No, that's not the _only_ thing. I just—things are different between us and I don't like it. I'm having trouble telling you things and you're having trouble telling me things, so we'll talk when we've got everything worked out." She headed for her dorm, but Fred grabbed her arm.

"Kenna, no, wait," he said. "I'll tell you."

She shook her head. "Don't tell me just because you feel obligated to. I want you to tell me because you want to. I want you to tell me because we're best friends and you can trust me."

"That's why I want you to tell me about," he lowered his voice, "Oliver."

"We both need time to think," she said. She broke out of his grasp and left him standing there confused and upset for the second time that day.

* * *

><p>"Bloody hell," Fred growled out, kicking at the leg of the couch. It was late that night and he and George were the only ones in the common room.<p>

"So, what happened exactly?" George asked with a sigh.

"One minute we were fine and the next, Cody came by and said something about Oliver and that I wouldn't like what I found out. Then I tried to ask McKenna again what had happened, but she ran off. She was actually nearly crying. And then you know the rest, she hasn't talked to me all day and now she's locked herself up in her dorm. I even asked Alicia to ask Kenna to come down, but she still wouldn't come talk to me."

"This is mental," George said. "You two have never been like this and nothing weird is going on between her and anyone else, so why just you two?"

"I don't know!" Fred kicked the leg of the couch again.

"Well, don't take it out on the couch," George said. "That couch has provided cushioning for us while we did homework, socialized and occasionally slept."

Fred gave a small laugh. "You're right." He slowly sat down on the couch and stared into the fire.

"So, what now?" George asked. "Are you just going to keep going back and forth between mini arguments and being friends? Because honestly, I don't think that's working out to well. Plus, it's confusing the hell out of me. I don't know when you're getting along or when you're mad at each other."

"I don't know," Fred whispered. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Well let's start with what you do know," George said reasonably. "You know you like her."

"I know I like her," Fred repeated. "I know I can't tell her."

"Ah, but you don't know that. I think you can tell her."

"No, but I can't," Fred said. "It's hard enough to tell her as it is, but now I have to worry about getting interrupted."

"Take her into a secret passageway. Hardly anyone knows about those."

"Filch does, and with my luck, he'll come barging in on us. Plus, a small, dark secret passageway isn't the ideal place to tell McKenna I like her."

"It could be," George said, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

Fred smiled and let out a sigh. "No, I don't want to tell her in a secret passageway."

"Then I don't know what to tell you," George shrugged.

"I can't even tell her anything if she's mad at me."

"Yes, you can. Just grab her and tell her. Maybe I need to sneak some Veriteserum in your pumpkin juice when McKenna's around."

"You wouldn't even dare," Fred answered, shooting George a nervous look. He knew that George probably would do something like that. That's what made him slightly nervous.

"You never know," George teased, standing up. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed." He stretched and fought off a yawn.

"Maybe in a minute," Fred answered, but he was yawning too.

"Come on," George said, poking Fred in the arm to get him to stand up. "You'll feel better in the morning and you'll be able to think clearer."

"Whatever you say, George," Fred mumbled with another yawn. He tried to stifle it, but it was useless. He stood up and followed George up the steps to their dorm.


	14. Chapter 14

"_When life knocks you down, try to land on your back. Because if you can look up, you can get up." _**–Les Brown**

* * *

><p>"This is beginning to turn into a huge mess," McKenna said. She was moving around her dorm, rearranging her things. She took her coat off the bed and put it in her trunk before taking it out and putting it back on her bed. Her schoolbooks went from the middle of the bed to the floor to inside of her bag.<p>

The incident with Fred before the task had taken up all of her thoughts since it had happened. She had so distracted that she had hardly been able to focus on the task. She only vaguely remembered cheering for Harry when he successfully captured his dragon egg. Now, she was upset about what had just happened in the common room. Her friendship was falling apart.

"McKenna, maybe you should just sit," Angelina said gently.

"You're making me dizzy," Katie added from her bed where she was flipping through a book.

"Why are you two so calm about this?" McKenna asked, finally sitting down.

Angelina and Katie shared a look.

"What?" McKenna asked.

Angelina sighed. "Never mind, but maybe we're calm because, well, it's your fight with Fred. Not that we don't care, of course," she added.

"Fred and I aren't fighting," McKenna insisted. "I just don't think we should speak until we're both ready to talk to each other."

"Just because you have a few secrets doesn't mean you can't talk at all," Angelina said.

"I know, but it's probably better if we don't. It'll give us both a chance to get our lives in order."

"Okay," Angelina said slowly and McKenna knew she thought she was being ridiculous. "But really, why are you so upset over this?"

"Well, for one, I'm being really stupid and he's being really stupid."

"That's no surprise," Katie joked with a snort. McKenna tossed a sock at her.

"And why are you both being stupid?" Angelina asked calmly. She was sitting on her bed across from McKenna with her hands folded in her lap.

"What are you, some kind of professional?" McKenna asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Maybe, now talk." Angelina ordered.

"He's being stupid because he wants to talk about what happened between me and Oliver and I don't want to tell him about it. He knows that."

"But didn't you tell him that you _would_ tell him the story if he told you about Bagman?" Katie asked.

"Yes, and that's why I'm stupid and—wait, how do you know about Bagman?" McKenna asked.

"George," Katie answered as if McKenna was an idiot. "Have you forgotten we're dating?"

"No, of course not. I just didn't know he told you."

"He told me on the first day of classes," Katie said gently, "so it took me a couple of weeks of dating to find out anything."

"They're embarrassed by it," McKenna said, "although I can't see why. We don't care if they have money or not."

"Yes, but they think we will," Katie said, looking up from her book and meeting McKenna's eye. "Did you ever think that Fred's other reason for entering the tournament, besides wanting to win money to open their shop, was because of you?"

"Me?" McKenna snorted. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe he wanted you to notice him."

"Notice him? He's one of my best friends. I've already noticed him."

"As a friend, you have."

"You said there's something more that he hasn't told you, right?" Angelina prodded. When McKenna looked at her, she shrugged. "I'm just saying, maybe he likes you. It certainly seems that way to me."

"You're both mental," McKenna laughed. "He couldn't possibly like me. We're best friends. I'm probably like another sister to him, and plus we keep getting into arguments and I get the feeling that pretty soon all the tension's going to explode into one big argument. Even if I did like him, it wouldn't work out and he would never like me back. Anyway, I always thought he liked you, Ange."

"Me?" Angelina froze and her eyes widened.

"Yeah, it makes sense."

"No, it doesn't," Angelina said, shaking her head.

"Why would he like Angelina?" Katie asked. Angelina raised her eyebrows and Katie laughed. "I don't mean that in a rude way, but I just mean, McKenna, why do you think Fred likes Angelina?"

"I mean, they're really close-,"

"So according to that theory, it makes my argument that he likes you valid," Angelina said with a smirk.

McKenna was silent for a moment. Angelina had a point. "He put his arm around you today." After she said it, she wished she hadn't. It sounded so dumb after she said it out loud.

"Oh, please," Angelina said. "That doesn't mean anything either. He's put his arm around you plenty of times as well. Fred and I are just friends. I don't like him that way, and he doesn't like me that way."

"I wouldn't be too sure," McKenna sniffed. "I know something happened between you two and everyone keeps acting as if nothing happened, but I'm not stupid." She slid under her covers and rolled over onto her side. She knew Angelina and Katie were sharing a look behind her back, but she didn't care at this point. Her talk with them had resolved nothing. Fred couldn't possibly like her and she couldn't possibly like Fred. Maybe she had been thinking about it before, but it really couldn't work out. She just had to keep telling herself that.

"McKenna?" Angelina said quietly.

"Yeah?" she asked, not turning around.

"Fred…well, never mind. Let's just go to bed."

"Yeah, since nobody wants to tell me anything," McKenna mumbled angrily, snuggling deeper under her covers. Her suspicions were slowly being confirmed that there was something going on between Fred and Angelina. She didn't like it one bit, and that was kind of scaring her.

* * *

><p>"She's really not talking to me," Fred said the next day. He and George were walking down to dinner without McKenna, who had gone on ahead with Angelina, Katie and Alicia. McKenna hadn't said a word to him all day. The only thing that was keeping Fred from being more upset than he was already was the fact that she looked almost as upset as he did.<p>

"Katie says Kenna won't talk to you because she basically thinks it'll be better for your relationship if you get yourselves together first," George said.

"And not talking will better our relationship?" Fred asked. "See? This is why we should have stuck to our old promise and stayed away from girls."

"Well I'm pretty happy with the girl I have," George said with a smirk.

"Go away," Fred answered, half smiling. "You know, maybe it's just me screwing this up."

"It's not you," George answered. "You're Fred Weasley and you're perfect." He tried to keep a straight face but ended up smirking.

"Go away," Fred said again, giving George a small shove. They reached the great hall and Fred saw McKenna already sitting and eating with her friends. George made a beeline for the seat next to Katie and Fred followed him, taking a seat on George's other side. He was far enough away from McKenna so that it wouldn't feel overly awkward, but he was close enough for him to at least feel slightly uncomfortable. Even worse, or maybe it was better-he couldn't decide-she was on the opposite side of the table from him, just a few seats down so he could see her perfectly.

"So, what's this about having to meet in the Transfiguration classroom tomorrow afternoon?" Lee asked, sitting down directly across from Fred.

"What?" Fred asked, removing his eyes from McKenna and turning to Lee. George and Katie had stopped laughing together next to him and were focused on Lee as well.

"Am I the only one who knows about this?" Lee asked. "There was a notice on the common room bulletin board this morning."

"Oh, well, who looks at that?" Fred said dismissively.

"Uh, everyone," Lee said.

"We only go if there's a crowd," George said, gesturing to himself and Fred. "That means there's something up worth seeing."

"Yeah, I thought I had missed something McGonagall or Dumbledore or someone said."

"Because you always pay attention in classes," Katie said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey," Fred pointed his fork at her jokingly, "you're one to talk. I see you and George glancing at each other every chance you get in History of Magic."

"It's the only class we have together and it's boring," Katie said.

"Not my fault," Fred shrugged.

"Yes it is. Everything's your fault," George said, flinging peas at Fred with his spoon. "And stop harassing my girlfriend with your fork."

"Yeah," Katie said, sticking her tongue out at Fred.

Fred crossed his eyes at her and they both started laughing. George was smiling widely at Fred.

"What?" Fred asked.

"Nothing, I'm just glad you two get along."

"We've always gotten along," Fred said. "You two dating wouldn't change that."

"I know and that's what makes me happy. I didn't even have to worry about a thing."

"Hello, does anyone care about what I have to say?" Lee asked impatiently. "You all went off on a major digression. Don't you want to know what the notice said?"

"Oh, right, sorry, go ahead." Fred turned to Lee and gave him his full attention. He dramatically widened his eyes and forced himself to not blink.

"Okay, enough, that's creepy. You can blink, just listen to me. The reason why there wasn't a huge crowd was probably because the notice was only for people in years four and up."

"Okay," George said slowly, "and what did it say?"

"That all Gryffindors in those years would have to meet in the Transfiguration classroom tomorrow at noon for an important discussion and announcement."

"Oh, a _discussion_," Fred said in a dramatic whisper. "Are we going to be given the grown up girl and boy talk now?"

"Nah, I think they're going to tell us that Santa isn't real," George joked.

"Or they're going to tell us babies _don't_ arrive by stork," Fred said, trying to keep all sarcasm out of his voice. "But that's ridiculous. I mean, really, everyone knows the stork brings babies." He and George grinned at each other and tried to contain their laughter. Fred could see Katie, Angelina, Alicia, and even McKenna looking at them and the fact that McKenna was watching made Fred want to keep talking, whether they were speaking to each other or not.

"Oh, please," Angelina said. "You two would have been the reason the stork blew up. If that story was true, of course."

"Looks like you've been brainwashed," Fred said, shaking his head sadly.

"Is it just me or are they weirder than usual today?" McKenna whispered to Angelina.

"What was that?" Fred asked with a smile. It was a desperate attempt to get her to speak to him.

McKenna looked torn between answering him and ignoring him, between laughing and rolling her eyes. In the end, she chose to answer him, but also rolled her eyes. "You two are absolutely crazy." With that, she stood up and walked away.

Fred let out a frustrated sigh. "George, do you think the stork allows returns? That way I can just return myself and save any and all embarrassment."

"Doubt it," George answered with a smile. "You're older and much too wise for it now. You'd blow his whole cover."

"True," Fred said, smiling again.

"Don't give up," George said, patting Fred's back. "It'll get better."

"Yeah, but doesn't it have to get worse first?" Fred asked.

"Maybe this is as bad as it gets," George shrugged.

"Maybe," Fred agreed, shrugging as well. He picked up his pumpkin juice.

"Uh, Fred..." George began, but it didn't do much to stop Fred from drinking the juice in nearly one gulp.

He blinked a few times and frowned slightly.

"Someone likes their pumpkin juice," Lee said with a laugh, tilting Fred's empty cup towards him and staring into it.

"I don't like pumpkin juice as much as I like McKenna!" Fred said, maybe a little too loud. A few people turned and looked at him. His eyes went wide.

"What?" Lee yelped, setting the cup down.

"I like McKenna and I want her to know but I'm too afraid to tell her!" Fred clapped his hands over his mouth. "What am I doing?" he mutttered through his fingers.

George gave a nervous laugh. "See, I wasn't expecting McKenna to get up and leave..."

"George!" Fred said. "Thank you for trying, but this idea completely stinks." He paused. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"Yes, you did," George teased, "but it's okay. The idea was maybe a little desperate. The Veriteserum should be wearing off soon, though. I only put a drop."

"Lee," Fred said, turning to his friend. "Don't say a word to McKenna, okay? I have to tell her myself that I like her."

"It might take him a hundred years, though," George added.

"One more word, and I swear, I'll dump a whole vial of Veriteserum in your drink and see what kind of rubbish you spew out."

"Okay," George said, holding up his hands in defeat.

"Sorry," Fred said again.

"It's fine," George added, grinning.

"I won't say a word," Lee said. "I promise." He was grinning too. "I just hope I live to see you ask her out."

Fred threw his napkin at Lee before standing up and heading out the door, rolling his eyes as George and Lee laughed their heads off.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! Thanks for all of the reviews so far! I really enjoy reading them and they make me smile! :D**


	15. Chapter 15

_"I wanted to tell you all my secrets, but you became one of them instead."_** -Unknown**

* * *

><p>The next day, McKenna filed into the Transfiguration classroom with the rest of the Gryffindors who were in years four and up. She wondered what was going on. The sign on the notice board hadn't given much information.<p>

"Hurry up, move along," Professor McGonagall said, hurrying through the crowd and into the room. When McKenna finally got inside, she saw that chairs had been set up on either side of the room and all desks had been cleared away. Instead, a large music player sat in the back of the room, where Filch was currently standing.

"What's that for?" McKenna asked Angelina.

"Beats me," she replied.

"Girls, please make your way to the left side of the room, and boys, please go to the right side."

"Boys on one side, girls on the other?" McKenna heard Fred whisper to George. "Maybe they are giving us the grown up talk after all. They're a little late, though."

"Maybe they aren't considering you two still think the stork brings babies," McKenna said, trying to hide her smirk. She couldn't help it; she just had to say something.

"Oh, you're speaking to me," Fred said, looking surprised. "This is definitely a moment for the diary, don't you think, George?"

"I agree," George nodded.

McKenna rolled her eyes and looked away again as Professor McGonagall continued to talk. "We don't have enough chairs for everyone, so some of you will have to stand." That got everyone moving. Nobody wanted to be left standing since they didn't know how long they would be in there.

McKenna was lucky enough to get a chair in between Angelina and Katie. Once everyone had settled down and fallen silent, McGonagall spoke again. "Today, all the heads of houses will be speaking to their students about an event that will take place on Christmas Eve as part of the Triwizard Tournament. The Yule Ball has been a tradition of the Triwizard tournament since its inception. On Christmas Eve night, we and our guests will gather in the great hall for a night of well-mannered frivolity."

"Are you following this?" McKenna asked Angelina.

"Not really," she answered, shaking her head.

"As representatives of the host school, I expect each and every one of you to put your best foot forward, and I mean this literally, because the Yule Ball is first and foremost a dance."

At that, the silence amongst the students finally shattered. All of the girls, including McKenna gave each other excited glances and began whispering, while most of the boys looked bored. Some of them even groaned.

"I'd have never thought a dance would take place at Hogwarts," Angelina said.

"I'm sure it'll be fun," McKenna said.

"Silence," McGonagall called, holding up her hands. "The house of Godric Gryffindor has commanded the respect of the wizard world for nearly ten centuries. I will not have you, in the course of a single evening, besmirching that name by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons." She looked around the room and was met with complete silence.

McKenna looked over at Fred and George, who were standing by a window and leaning against the wall. They looked as if they were trying to see how fast they could say 'babbling, bumbling band of baboons'. Typical. By the time she listened back in on what McGonagall was saying, the teacher was comparing girls to swans and boys to lions. It sounded pretty silly and apparently Ron thought the same thing because he was talking to Harry and laughing.

"Mr. Weasley, will you join me up here, please?" McGonagall had apparently noticed Ron's whispers as well because she crossed the room to him, grabbed his arm, and dragged him out to the middle of the room. "Put your right hand on my waist."

"Where?" Ron asked, his eyes widening. Fred and George wolf whistled and McKenna bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"My waist, Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall said, grabbing his arm and readjusting it on her waist. Ron looked like he wanted to crawl out the window and disappear. McKenna couldn't really blame him, but at the same time, this was too funny to not watch.

Filch began the music and McGonagall began leading Ron around the room. Fred and George were enjoying Ron's misery immensely. They were laughing, humming along to the music, and dancing in place.

"Everyone find a partner and start practicing," McGonagall yelled. She let go of Ron, who hurried off to find another partner in the sea of students crowding the middle of the room.

"Nice try, Ron," McKenna joked as he passed her, "but maybe next time you might want to go for someone more your own age."

"Oh, shut it," Ron said, making a face at her before giving her a smile to let her know he was kidding and hurrying away again. McKenna laughed and turned around, only to bump into Fred, who grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Nice one," he said.

"Rude," she muttered, staring at the base of his neck. It was what she was eye level with and she knew if she looked up into his eyes, those incredible blue eyes, she would forget that she didn't want to talk to him. Except, maybe that was a dumb idea in the first place. Truthfully, she missed him.

"No, I meant nice comment to Ron," Fred said. "It's something I would have said."

"Okay," she whispered. She glanced over his shoulder and saw Oliver coming towards them, no doubt wanting to ask her to dance. "Well, Oliver's-,"

"Dance with me," Fred interrupted, holding onto her arm tighter.

"No, Oliver's coming over here and-,"

"Hey, Olive," Fred said, using his old nickname for Oliver from first year, "you don't mind if I dance with Kenna right now, do you?"

"No, I guess not," Oliver answered, looking disappointed. "As long as I get to cut in later."

"Whatever you want," Fred said quickly. He dragged McKenna to the other side of the room, near the windows, where McKenna just stared up at the ceiling. She wasn't a good dancer. The only dancing experience she had was when she was younger her father would let her stand on his feet and he would lead them around the room.

"Wow, you need more help than I thought," Fred said with a smile. "You're supposed to put one hand here,"—he took her left hand and put it on his shoulder—"and then give me your other hand." He picked up her right hand in his left and held them out to the side before placing his right hand on her waist. At the contact, McKenna felt those dumb butterflies back again. No, no, no, this wasn't happening. She was working everything out with Oliver. She liked Oliver. Things were going good between them and Fred couldn't ruin that. He just couldn't. Plus, she couldn't like Fred. She wasn't good enough for him for one thing. For another, she doubted he would ever like her. She was still pretty sure he liked Angelina. At least she had a possibility of a chance with Oliver.

"Kenna?" Fred asked.

"What?" She snapped out of her thoughts and continued to stare at his neck.

"You have to move your feet. Unless you'd prefer that I drag you around?"

"Yeah, you might have to because I can't do this."

"Do what?"

"Dance," she replied.

"Everyone _can_ dance," Fred said, "just not everyone's good at it. You're probably one of those people."

"Hey!" McKenna said defensively, finally looking at him.

"Aha, you finally looked at me," Fred smirked, as he began to lead her in a dance.

McKenna narrowed her eyes at him and looked down at her feet. She could have just let herself step on Fred's toes, but she didn't dislike him enough to do that, at least not purposely. She was just frustrated with him at the moment. She was frustrated with herself as well. She should just tell him about what happened over the summer. He was her friend and he cared, but she didn't want him to get involved and plus, things were better with Oliver now, so why bother telling anyone else?

"Don't look at the ground," Fred said.

"What?" she asked.

"Don't look at the ground," Fred repeated. "Look at me, or look at something over my shoulder if you really can't stand to look at me that much."

"It's not that," McKenna said, finally looking up to see that Fred was smiling.

"I'm joking," he said. "You just can't resist my dashing good looks."

McKenna let out a quiet laugh before looking at Fred. "You're oddly good at this."

"Oddly?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I just mean I didn't know you could dance," she whispered.

"Surprise," he whispered back. "Learn something new every day, isn't that what you always tell me?"

"Yeah, it is," she smiled, remembering.

"Kenna," Fred whispered, "I need to tell you that I-,"

"I think it's time that I cut in," Oliver said, appearing beside them. Fred blinked a few times before dropping McKenna's hand and taking a step back. "I was dancing with Angelina. We can switch partners, Fred."

Fred blinked a few more times before letting out a bitter laugh and looking at McKenna. "I give up," he said. With that, he turned and headed for Angelina. He actually looked slightly nervous at having to go over to her. _Probably because he likes her_, McKenna thought bitterly.

"Fred, wait," she called after him, but he ignored her. Oliver gently turned her face back to him.

McKenna bit her lip as she and Oliver danced. He was just as bad a dancer as she was, if not worse, and it was terrible. She didn't feel as comfortable and secure as she did with Fred. With Oliver, she felt even more self-conscious and like her terrible dancing was so much more obvious. With Fred, she felt as if she actually could dance. It made it worse that whenever she looked up she saw Fred and Angelina dancing together. Angelina had always been a wonderful dancer and she and Fred were effortlessly and flawlessly dancing just across the room.

"Well, I think we've all just about had enough," McGonagall announced about twenty minutes later. "You may go."

Everyone made a beeline for the doorway and McKenna stood next to Oliver as they waited to leave the room. "So, that was fun," he said, grinning at her. "I think we improved, what do you think?"

"Oh, we definitely improved," McKenna joked, but it was halfhearted. She didn't really feel in the mood for jokes right now and she couldn't exactly place why. Fred's weird mood shouldn't have still been affecting her, and her annoyance of seeing him with Angelina shouldn't have meant anything either.

"Hey, what are you doing tomorrow afternoon?" Oliver asked excitedly, as if he had just gotten a great idea.

"I'm not sure," she shrugged. "Why do you ask?"

"Do you think you can meet me out in front tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yeah, I don't see why not," McKenna responded, "but I don't really understand-,"

"You'll see tomorrow," he replied. With that, he gently kissed her forehead and hurried off.

"What was _that_?" Angelina asked, coming up behind McKenna.

"Nothing," McKenna answered quickly.

"Uh-huh," Angelina said. "It sure looked like something to me." McKenna didn't answer. Instead, she just bit her lip, so Angelina continued. "Just remember what I told you. If you're having doubts about Oliver, then don't do it. Don't date him if you don't want to, and don't be wishy-washy. Let him know you don't want to be with him. Or if you do, then fine, just make sure you're happy and it's what you really want."

McKenna squeezed her eyes shut. "I have no idea what I want. I hate this. Everything's so confusing to me right now."

"You'll figure it out," Angelina said knowingly.

* * *

><p>The next day, McKenna did as Oliver told her and waited out on the front steps for him to show up. She had no idea what this was all about, but Angelina sure seemed to have an idea.<p>

"He's going to ask you to the ball," she said. "I just know it."

"You've said that already. Maybe, I don't know, around fifty times," McKenna said, playing with the end of her scarf.

"I know, but I feel the need to keep reminding you," Angelina said with a grin. She nudged McKenna playfully, but then she became serious. "What'll you say if he does ask you?"

"I don't know," McKenna sighed. She caught the look Angelina was giving her and quickly spoke again. "Yes, I'll say yes."

"Okay, as long as you want to," Angelina said in a 'suit yourself' tone.

"It's as if you don't want me to go to the ball with him or date him or talk to him, or-,"

"It's not that I don't want you to talk to him or be friends with him. All I'm saying is can you really trust him? Is he really all that reliable? Think about what happened before."

"Yeah, but he said he wanted to start over and he hasn't flaked out once yet."

"But he hasn't promised you anything."

"He wanted to start over and try to get back to where we were over the summer and that's what we've been doing. That's what I meant. He hasn't changed his mind."

"Yet," Angelina said. "I swear, if he flakes out on you again, I'm going to let you find someone else's shoulder to cry on."

"But then you'd miss out on the opportunity to have a slumber party and say nasty things about the male species."

"Those _are_ fun," Angelina sighed. "Okay, fine, but you won't be able to say I didn't warn you and I'll be able to say I told you so."

"Fine," McKenna agreed. Just then, she saw Fred and George coming around the corner. She stared to wave, but changed her mind. George had already seen her, though. He waved back and gave her a small smile. Fred looked up and caught McKenna's eye. She gave him a tentative smile, and he gave her one back, but before anything else could happen, a group of second years by the lake let out squeals and pointed at the sky. McKenna looked up and saw someone flying on a broom over the lake. A sign was attached to the back of the broom, flying straight out in the wind. It said _McKenna, will you go to the ball with me?_

"Is that-?" McKenna began.

"It's Oliver. I knew it!" Angelina said, digging her nails into McKenna's arm.

As Oliver flew around in a circle, McKenna glanced at Fred. He was staring up at Oliver with his mouth hanging open. His expression was unreadable, but McKenna got the feeling that he didn't like what he was seeing.

Oliver finally landed and walked over to McKenna, his broom and the sign trailing behind him. Everyone who had been standing in the area was now looking at the two of them. "So, what do you say?" Oliver asked.

McKenna bit her lip. She hesitated for a fraction of a second, but then Angelina's words from the day before about doubts and hesitation came back to her and she quickly made up her mind before she had time to convince herself otherwise. "Yes, I'll go with you."

"Really? Excellent," Oliver said, looking pleased as everyone around them clapped. McKenna felt her cheeks turn pink. When she looked up again, Fred and George had disappeared.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**


	16. Chapter 16

_"When we cannot get what we love, we must love what is on our reach."_** –French Proverb**

* * *

><p>"So about what happened over the summer," Oliver began.<p>

"No, let's just forget about it and start over. That's what we're trying to do, isn't it?" McKenna asked. They were on a Hogsmeade date and currently browsing through the aisles of Honeyduke's. Later, McKenna was going to meet up with Angelina, Katie and Alicia to start looking for dresses for the ball.

"Yeah, but I just wanted to make sure you knew I was sorry about what happened."

"Let's just not talk about it, okay?"

"Okay," Oliver agreed. "What if I told you I still did have feelings for you?"

McKenna paused with a Sugar Quill in her hand. She turned it over in her palm a few times and focused on it instead of looking at Oliver. Over the summer, she would have felt ecstatic at that news. In fact, she _had_ felt ecstatic the first time she had felt positive Oliver liked her. But that was months ago and she had just said herself that she wanted to forget all about it. She finally took a deep breath and answered. "I don't know," she said. "I have a lot of stuff going on right now."

"Like what?" Oliver asked.

"It's just—it's complicated." She was pretty sure there was something wrong with her. She couldn't tell anyone anything anymore. Maybe it was because she couldn't make sense of her own feelings, never mind tell anyone else about them. "Look, Oliver. Maybe I want to forget about what happened between us, but it's easier said than done. Everything got so screwed up and now I'm even more confused-,"

"I was a jerk to you over the summer. I realize that and I'm so sorry. I guess I can understand where you're coming from so we'll just take it little by little. Inch by inch, right? Talking to each other again was one inch, the ball's another inch-,"

"Yeah, okay," McKenna said. It sounded like a form of procrastination—putting off and pushing back the moment when they would be okay to start dating, which somehow felt okay to her. She needed time to get herself together. She was being so weird lately.

"Are you going to buy that?" Oliver asked, gesturing to the Sugar Quill in her hand.

McKenna nodded. Fred loved Sugar Quills as much as she did. There was one night in particular that she could remember when, last year, she and Fred had stocked up on a bunch of Sugar Quills from Hogsmeade and ended up eating more than they should have. Long story short, they stayed in the common room almost the whole night, too hyped up on sugar to sleep. McKenna also remembered that they hadn't been able to stop laughing. The sugar combined with lack of sleep had made every little thing seem funny. She could remember leaning up against Fred and laughing until her sides felt ready to split open and she could hardly breathe.

"Yeah, I'm going to buy it," she said, nodding again. She would give it to Fred in an attempt to let him know she still wanted to be friends. "On second thought, I'll buy a few." She figured Fred could use more than one Sugar Quill. He certainly did like them a lot.

"Okay," Oliver said. "Then you should probably go meet up with your friends. You don't want to lose out on an opportunity to find a dress." He excitedly bounced up and down a little bit and McKenna laughed. "So, do all of your friends have dates?" Oliver asked.

"Katie's obviously going with George," McKenna said as she paid for the Sugar Quills, "and I'm pretty sure Lee's going to ask Alicia this afternoon. Angelina doesn't have a date yet, but she's still going to go the ball, date or not."

"Oh, really," Oliver said, nodding his head.

"Yeah, she'll find a date, though."

"You think?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, anyone would be mental not to ask her," McKenna grinned.

"Yeah, yeah they would," Oliver agreed. McKenna smirked and swatted him.

"Hitting on my friends?" she joked as Oliver laughed.

"No, just agreeing with you. Now, go meet up with them before you're late."

* * *

><p>"That is the one," Angelina said the second she had come out of a fitting room and noticed the dress on McKenna. She walked over to her friend, tripping on the hem of the dress she was wearing that was slightly too long for her. "McKenna, that dress was made for you. If you don't buy it, I'll hit you."<p>

"You think so?" McKenna asked, turning back and forth in the mirror set up in the back of the shop by the fitting rooms.

"I know so. Don't you girls agree?" Angelina turned to Katie and Alicia.

"It's perfect," Katie said. She had already picked out her dress, a bright pink color with thin straps that criss-crossed in the back. Now, she was waiting patiently for the others to finish selecting dresses.

"Buy it," Alicia ordered from the rack where she was searching for another dress. "I, on the other hand, can't find _anything_. I might just have to go wearing _this_. She held up a horrible brown dress.

"It looks like a potato sack," Angelina said, crinkling her nose. "Please put it back. We'll find something much more attractive for you." She grinned and lifted up the hem of her own dress to join Alicia. "Not that you couldn't pull off this potato sack, of course."

"So, we all agree on this dress, then?" McKenna asked, giving one last twirl. Her dress was a lavender color with one strap on her left shoulder, complete with a flowery decoration where the strap met the neckline of the dress.

"Definitely," Angelina, Alicia and Katie answered.

Eventually, Angelina and Alicia had found dresses as well. Angelina found a dark green one and Alicia a white one with gold swirling designs all over it.

"So, what's in the Honeyduke's bag?" Angelina asked on the way back to school.

"Oh, I got a few Sugar Quills for Fred. I thought of him when I saw them in Honeydukes, so I figured I'd buy some for him. You know, to make sure we're okay and everything. I really do feel bad about everything, but it's all spiraling out of control, and-,"

"Kenna?" Angelina interrupted.

"What?" she asked.

"Can you promise me that you won't hurt Fred?"

"Why would I ever hurt him?" she asked, shocked.

Angelina looked up at the sky. "It's difficult," she said, "but there's just so much that happened and I don't want to see him hurt because of you and Oliver."

"This has to do with him liking me, doesn't it? Or, rather, your theory that he does."

"Yeah," Angelina nodded. "For the most part, it does."

"Fred doesn't care if I'm hanging out with Oliver," McKenna said, "and the only reason I'm not telling him about what happened before is because I don't want him to get involved and it was months ago, so why bother now?"

"Just promise me you'll take my advice, because I mean it. If you have any doubts about Oliver, you don't have to go through with anything. And just keep Fred in mind."

"Yeah, okay," McKenna said quietly. "Do you like Fred?"

"No," Angelina said at once. She sighed. "No, I don't."

"Okay," McKenna said slowly. "Just asking."

Angelina smiled at her. "He's all yours, if you wanted him."

McKenna hesitated. "No, how many times do I have to say it? Fred and I are simply best friends."

"And Dumbledore is my uncle," Angelina said sarcastically.

"What?" McKenna laughed.

"Never mind," Angelina answered, shaking her head and laughing along.

* * *

><p>"It looks like we're going to have to send Bagman another letter," Fred said dismally as he and George made their way to the common room that night. They had already sent Bagman one letter and he hadn't responded. He and George weren't going to let up that easily, though. Fred rubbed one of his eyes with the back of his hand. He felt exhausted and worn out.<p>

"Looks like it," George replied. "We should do it tonight, rather than put it off, but I don't feel like going all the way to the Owlery right now, so why don't we ask Ron if we can borrow Pig?"

"Alright," Fred agreed as they entered the common room. His eyes flickered to the corner where McKenna was sitting with Alicia, Katie, Angelina and, much to Fred's annoyance, Oliver. McKenna was sitting next to him with her legs dangling over his lap.

"Look away, Freddie," George said.

"I can't believe he asked her to the ball," Fred muttered.

"Would you have asked her if he didn't?" George asked.

"Yeah, I was actually planning on it, but Oliver wasted no time." Fred finally tore his eyes from McKenna and looked at Angelina, who was in conversation with Alicia. He considered asking her to the ball. As friends, of course. He didn't have a date and needed one, and he had heard she was in need of a date as well, so it was perfect. It might be a little weird, but it wasn't as if he liked her anymore. He didn't have time to debate it further, though, because George was already headed towards the couch, where Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting.

"Nice look, Ron," George said to Ron, who had just burnt off half of each of his eyebrows when his house of Exploding Snap cards exploded. "That'll go well with your dress robes."

"Shut it," Ron mumbled.

"Can we borrow Pigwidgeon?" George asked.

"No, he's off delivering a letter. Why?" Ron looked up at them suspiciously.

"Because George wants to invite him to the ball," Fred said sarcastically.

"I heard that!" Katie yelled from the corner.

"Impressive hearing you've got," Fred called over his shoulder without looking. He didn't want to have to look at McKenna and Oliver.

"Anyway, I think it's you that is in need of a date," George said to Fred, "and Pig should be available once he returns from delivering the letter." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"We need to send a letter," Fred said, trying to stifle his laughter.

"I figured," Ron answered, "but who do you keep writing to anyway?"

"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that for you too," Fred said, twirling his wand threateningly.

"You're just mad because you don't have a date to the ball yet and McKenna's with Oliver," Ron said.

"I don't care about McKenna," Fred snapped, but he could feel his face turn red. Did the whole world know he liked her? It seemed that way. Everyone knew except McKenna, the one person that mattered.

"Of course you care," Hermione said gently, a knowing smirk on her face.

"What about you three? Do you have dates?" Fred changed the subject quickly.

"Mhm," Hermione said.

"Who?" Fred asked.

"I've been wondering the same thing," Ron muttered.

"Not telling," Hermione said, flipping a page of her Charms book. She had a smug smile on her face. "You'll find out on the day of the ball."

"Harry? Ron?" George asked. "Taking any lucky ladies to the ball?"

"No," Ron mumbled.

"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone," Fred said with a smirk.

"I thought you didn't have a date, either," Ron said defensively.

"I have a date," Fred said, making a decision on the spot.

"Who're you going with, then?" Ron asked as George raised his eyebrows.

"Angelina," Fred said.

"What?" George asked, his mouth falling open.

"You've asked her and everything?" Ron asked.

"Good point," Fred answered, smiling. He was trying his hardest to control his nerves. Grabbing a crumpled up piece of paper from the table, he forced himself to turn around and look over to Angelina's table. "Oi, Angelina!" he yelled, tossing the paper at her.

"What?" she called back, looking back at him in slight annoyance. Katie, McKenna, Alicia and Oliver were looking at him now as well.

"Want to come to the ball with me?"

"What?" Angelina's mouth fell open and she looked dumbstruck.

"Do you," Fred pointed at her, "want to go to the ball,"-he mimed dancing- "with me? He pointed at himself and tilted his head questioningly.

"Uh, sure, alright then," she answered slowly. Fred grinned, but not so much because Angelina had said yes, but because he saw McKenna's mouth fall open and her eyes widen.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" George asked, grabbing Fred's sleeve. "We're going to just use a school owl," he announced to Ron before dragging Fred out into the hallway.

"Did you see McKenna's face?" Fred asked. "Her eyes practically popped out of her head."

"She already suspects something's up with you and Angelina and now you probably just confirmed all of her suspicions."

"She's with Oliver anyway. They're going to the ball and basically dating-,"

"Did you just ask Angelina to make McKenna jealous?"

"No," Fred said. "I need a date, and so does Ange. It's fine. Really, it's just a friendship thing. I don't like Ange anymore. I promise."

"Then why did you ask her?"

"Because," Fred said slowly as if George were slow, "we're friends and we both need dates. Plus, I could care less if McKenna's jealous."

"Are you mental?" George asked, but he wasn't the only one who spoke the words. Angelina had just come out of the portrait hole.

"What?" Fred asked, shrugging innocently. "Ange, you know I just asked you as a friend, right?"

"Well, I sort of figured, but I came out here to ask you exactly why you chose to ask me to the ball."

"We both need dates," Fred said again. "We're friends."

"Me, of all people, though?" Angelina asked. "Are you sure that's the best idea?"

"Angelina, I'm completely over you and I understand there's nothing between us. Going to a dance together isn't going to change that. I solemnly swear." He crossed his heart and held up his hand.

"Does this have to do with McKenna?" Angelina asked.

"Everyone knows, huh?" Fred asked as George let out a laugh.

"You did practically yell it at dinner not too long ago."

"Don't remind me," Fred groaned.

"I've just been assuming you liked her," Angelina said. "I'm happy for you, really."

"I'm not," he mumbled. "I'm not happy for me at all. It's not working out. Again."

"Just because it didn't work out with me, doesn't mean it won't work out with anybody," Angelina said comfortingly. She reached out and tentatively patted his shoulder. "I really think McKenna likes you, but-,"

"No, not this again," Fred said, sticking his fingers in his ears. "I'm not going to have people tell me that a girl likes me ever again. I don't want to get my hopes up."

"Fine," Angelina said. She turned towards the portrait hole and paused, glancing over her shoulder. "My dress is green, by the way." With that, she disappeared back inside.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**


	17. Chapter 17

"_Secrets are meant to be found out with time." –_**Charles Sanford**

* * *

><p>"Finally, Christmas break," McKenna sighed, collapsing into a common room chair after their last class of the term.<p>

"It's a wonderful thing," Alicia agreed, actually lying down on the floor. "I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep the whole holiday away."

"You'll miss the ball if you do that," Katie said, swinging George's hand back and forth.

"I agree with Alicia," Fred added, leaning his elbow on the top of McKenna's chair. She stiffened slightly and bit her lip at how close he was. It was annoying. Every time he got close to her, she felt like she was being electrocuted.

"You want to miss the ball?" Angelina asked. "But we would have had so much fun!" She nudged him jokingly and McKenna frowned.

"No," Fred said. "I would have woken up for the ball on Christmas Eve, but then gone back to bed once Christmas was over."

"I can't believe the ball's in two days," Katie said excitedly.

"Me neither," George said, playfully spinning her around.

"You know," Fred said, apparently still thinking about what to do over the holiday, "I might be able to make room in my sleep schedule for a snowball fight tomorrow afternoon. Who's in?"

"Oh, me, definitely," George said at once. "The snowball fight champion never backs out on an invitation to join in on a snowball fight."

"Snowball fight champion, my leg," Fred muttered. "Anyone else?"

"Me," Angelina, Alicia and Katie said at once.

"Kenna, what about you?" George asked.

She paused, feeling everyone's eyes on her. "Sure, why not?" More time to see Fred and Angelina together. Just spectacular.

The next day, McKenna burst through the front doors ahead of her friends. She loved the snow. She thought it was incredibly beautiful. At the moment, there was a good amount of snow already on the ground and it was still snowing lightly.

Giggling, she twirled around in a circle and held out her arms to the side. She was aware of her friends running past her further out into the snow, so she stopped twirling. She jumped when she saw Fred was still standing behind her, a small smile on his face and his hands in his coat pockets.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he answered quietly.

McKenna debated what she should say next, if she should say anything at all, but before she could say or do anything, a snowball hit her in the ear.

"Are we going to start or what?" George yelled.

"You're going to pay for that, George Weasley!" McKenna screamed, scooping up snow in her hands and making as many snowballs as quickly as she could.

"George, don't worry, I can take her," Katie said, dropping to her knees and gathering her own pile of snow.

"Yeah, right," McKenna said.

"I can definitely take her," Fred said, from slightly behind McKenna. She felt a snowball hit her in the back of her head.

"Fred!" she screeched, whipping around and throwing one back at him. It hit him right in the face. "Gotcha!"

Fred smirked and before she could ask what he was smirking at, she was bombarded from behind with snowballs from Alicia, Katie, Angelina and George.

"You're so mean!" she yelled, trying to toss snowballs back at each of them. She had just thrown one at Alicia and missed when she felt something cold on her neck. She yelped and spun around. Fred had a pile of snow in his hand and he was laughing. "This is a _snowball_ fight," she said.

"Fine," Fred said. He formed the snow into a ball. "_Now_ I can stick it down the back of your coat."

"No," she said, beginning to run. Fred was chasing her and she was laughing. It was just like old times. She had forgotten about Oliver, Angelina, the ball, and worrying about who liked who and she was laughing and concentrating on the moment. She had missed being able to do this sort of thing with Fred.

Within seconds, Fred had tackled her to the ground. She flipped over and looked up at him, perched above her. Her breath caught in her throat and she couldn't speak.

"You've always liked the snow," he said quietly.

"Yeah," she managed to whisper out.

"You've also always been a slow runner."

She shook her head. "You have a bad memory. I was just slow this time because of the snow."

"Ah, I see," Fred said. He smiled. "Remember fourth year when you, George and I had a snowman competition to see who could make the best snowman?"

"I won, of course," she said.

"No, I believe the winner was me," Fred said.

"Can we agree that it _wasn't_ George?"

"Yes, we can agree on that," Fred laughed.

McKenna giggled. "What's happened to us?"

"I don't know," Fred answered, "but I miss you."

McKenna felt her throat constrict. "I miss you too," she whispered, trying to force away the lump in her throat.

"But do you miss this?" Fred smirked and threw a handful of snow in her face.

"Fred!" McKenna pushed him off of her and rolled on top of him instead, giggling. She tossed a handful of snow in his face and he laughed and brushed it away.

"McKenna," he said, suddenly serious. "Don't go with Oliver."

"What?" she asked, looking down at him in surprise.

"Don't go to the ball with Oliver. Don't date him, either."

"And why shouldn't I?" she asked.

Fred swallowed, reaching up with a gloved hand and tugging on the ends of McKenna's hair that were sticking out from under her hat. "Because, I'm completely-,"

"What's going on over here?" Angelina said teasingly, coming up behind McKenna and throwing her arms around her neck.

Fred closed his eyes and put his hand over them. McKenna mentally cursed. Now it was her turn to be upset by the interruption. It had been such a good moment and she really wanted to know why Fred didn't want her to be with Oliver.

"Nothing, nothing is going on," McKenna said.

"Well then, let's get back to the snowball fight!"Angelina said, grabbing McKenna's hand and pulling her away. "You too, Fred. Come on, we're ganging up on Katie next!"

McKenna looked back at Fred as he stood up and followed them. "I'm sorry," she mouthed.

Fred just shook his head and continued to follow them.

* * *

><p>McKenna finished pinning her hair off to the side with a silver clip and looked at herself in the mirror. She had just finished her hair, which was left down and straightened as opposed to leaving it naturally wavy. She had used the clip to pin a section off to the side. It was a simple look, but it worked.<p>

"You look wonderful," Angelina said, coming up behind her friend and looking in the mirror as well. Angelina had her hair in a low bun that was at the side of her head instead of directly in the back. A few pieces of hair were framing her face.

"You look even more wonderful," McKenna said. "Fred will just love it."

Angelina bit her lip and let out a small laugh. "And Oliver will just love you."

"Angelina?" McKenna asked. "How do you know when you're with the right person?" She traced the edge of the mirror with her finger.

Angelina sat down in the empty chair beside McKenna. "Having doubts?"

"Not yet," McKenna half-lied. She didn't exactly doubt her decision; she just wasn't completely sure, which was kind of the same thing, but she was hoping it might just be pre-Yule Ball nerves. "What about you?"

Angelina shook her head. "But to answer your question, I think if you doubt it, that's one clue that the person you're with isn't completely right. If there's no spark, that's another thing. The right person should make you completely happy. Not just regular happy, but so happy that your insides feel like they're just expanding and you could float away any second."

"Like a balloon," McKenna said.

"Like a balloon," Angelina repeated. "There's probably a bunch of other ways, but I like those the best."

"Me too," McKenna agreed. She looked up at her friend. "Let's go."

Alicia and Katie had been the quickest to get ready, and being too impatient to wait, they had gone on ahead. They weren't in the common room either, so McKenna assumed they had gone on downstairs with Lee and George. Oliver and Fred were in the common room, though, among other people waiting for dates. They were actually standing together by the portrait hole. It looked like they were simply making small talk.

"Wow," both boys said together when the girls appeared. McKenna hated herself slightly for looking at Fred before Oliver, but that's what she did. She looked right at him and to her surprise he was looking right at her. When she finally managed to tear her eyes away and look at Oliver, he was making eye contact with Angelina. Probably having a silent conversation about what a bad date she was. McKenna bit her lip before smiling at Oliver.

"You look nice," she said.

"So do you," he answered, holding out his arm. Fred held his out to Angelina and the four of them made their way to the entrance hall.

"So did anyone figure out who Hermione's going with?" Fred asked.

"Viktor Krum," McKenna said casually. "I was in the library when he asked her. It's sweet, really."

Angelina made an impressed face. "There are going to be a lot of broken hearted girls tonight."

"Are you one of them?" Oliver asked in a teasing tone.

Angelina looked at him. "No," she said with a small laugh. "I'm actually a little proud to say I'm not part of the Viktor Krum fan club."

"What about you?" Fred asked McKenna, smirking.

"No, I'm not into Quidditch players. You know that." She looked at him and smiled shyly and he actually smiled back.

"Huh?" Oliver asked.

"Nothing, just a joke," she said, shaking her head.

"Oh, so you do like Quidditch players?" Oliver asked.

"I don't mind them," she answered.

"So you like Viktor Krum?"

She shrugged. "Not really," she answered. "I mean, I'm sure he's nice, but I-,"

"You only have eyes for one Quidditch player, right?" Oliver asked, nudging her.

McKenna smiled. "I guess you could say that," she answered with a laugh. She hated to admit it, but she was starting to think that the one Quidditch player was and always would be Fred.

Dinner was served before the dancing would actually begin and McKenna and Oliver sat at a table with Fred, Angelina, Alicia, Lee, George and Katie. It was rather enjoyable except for McKenna found herself sitting on one side of Fred, which wouldn't have been so bad if her stomach hadn't danced around nervously every time they bumped shoulders or arms. It was even worse that she was left handed and he was right handed, so they could hardly eat their food without bumping elbows.

"Sorry," she said after about the tenth time it had happened.

"Don't mention it," Fred said, shrugging.

After dinner was over, Dumbledore stood up and announced it was time to dance. The tables and chairs were cleared out of the way as everyone lined the perimeter of the dance floor. Apparently, it was tradition for the champions and their dates to start the dancing. McKenna knew Harry was probably wishing he could stay hidden in a corner somewhere. He hated to dance; it wasn't really a secret.

"Harry looks about ready to puke," Oliver said with a chuckle.

"Poor Harry," McKenna said with a small smile.

"If I had been made champion, that could have been us," Oliver whispered, as he and McKenna joined in the clapping that was starting up all around them.

"Don't know if I would want all that attention," McKenna said with a smile. "Especially while I was dancing. You know how bad I am."

"And you know how bad _I_ am." Oliver laughed.

Finally, after a few moments of the champions dancing, Dumbledore asked McGonagall to dance, which invited everyone else to join in as well.

"You haven't stepped on my toes once," Oliver said after a few minutes.

"And you haven't stepped on my dress," McKenna laughed.

"Good," Oliver said. "We're in luck, tonight, I guess."

"We're in luck," she repeated, smiling. "Although, I still believe you're more coordinated on a broom."

"I would feel insulted if I didn't agree with you so much," Oliver laughed.

The slow song finally switched to a fast one and McKenna and Oliver danced all through that song as well as the next one. Finally, Oliver offered to go get drinks.

"So are you and Fred speaking again or what?" Oliver asked as he passed her a drink and sat next to her.

"Hm?" she asked.

"You were watching him. I noticed you were when I was coming back from getting the drinks."

"I wasn't watching him," she said defiantly.

"You still are," Oliver said with a small laugh.

McKenna tore her eyes away from Fred and Angelina, who were dancing next to George and Katie and looked back at Oliver. "To answer your question, I don't know if we were ever officially not speaking. We'd go days or sometimes even a week or two without talking, which is out of the ordinary for us, but then we'd just start talking again."

"Oh," Oliver said, "because I was going to ask you if you knew what was going on between him and Angelina. I mean, Angelina has told me there's nothing going on, but-,"

"Why do you care so much?" McKenna said with a laugh. "It's as if you like Angelina or something." She looked at Oliver, who wasn't laughing. Instead, he was biting his lip nervously. "You do like Angelina," McKenna stated, a horrible feeling starting in the pit of her stomach.

"I know how bad this looks," Oliver said.

"Why did you want to get back to the way we were over the summer? Why couldn't you have made it clear you just wanted to be friends? Why did you ask me to the ball?" McKenna felt slightly panicky. It was really happening all over again. How could she have been so stupid?

"This is going to sound horrible—it _is_ horrible—but I did it so I could be around Angelina more and, well, make her jealous. You two are best friends. I know I'm already friends with her too because of Quidditch, but I also kind of wanted to make her jealous by making her think I had a thing going on with you."

McKenna was actually at a loss for words as she processed what Oliver had just told her.

* * *

><p>"What I would like to know," Fred muttered as he and Angelina danced, "is why Oliver is all of a sudden talking to McKenna. It's so random. I didn't even know they were friends." He hadn't been able to help feeling immensely jealous when he had seen Oliver dancing with McKenna earlier. Oliver had gotten to wrap his arms around her and be close to her.<p>

Angelina didn't say anything at first. She just followed Fred's gaze over to McKenna and Oliver, sitting across the room. "I have a theory," she finally said, "and I'm hoping I'm wrong, but at the same time, I hope I'm right."

"Why?" Fred asked, wrinkling his nose in confusion.

"He might be talking to her because of me, which will hurt her and it's why I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I want to be right because it means you have a shot with her."

"_What_ are you going on about?" Fred asked.

Angelina sighed. "Kenna might kill me for telling you, but I'm going to tell you anyway. Well, I'll condense it. She can give you the details, but she and Oliver talked a lot over the summer. He started it, really and she fell for him, but then he blew her off. He basically stopped talking to her and wouldn't answer her letters or anything. She was really hurt. Cody said she locked herself in her room the day it happened and she wouldn't stop crying."

"What?" Fred hissed. "Why would Oliver do something like that?"

Angelina bit her lip and looked back up at Fred as they continued to dance. "Remember that guy that you found out I was secretly dating last January?"

"That's completely irrelevant and has nothing to-hold on, it was _Oliver_?"

Angelina nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to keep it all a secret so you wouldn't get hurt, but it didn't matter because you got hurt anyway. Kenna doesn't know about it either. Nobody did except for me and Oliver."

"But then you broke up with him," Fred said, still trying to process it. They had stopped dancing and were now just standing in place. They probably looked very odd.

Angelina nodded again. "I broke up with him because I felt guilty about what I did to you. I care about you, Fred, but only as a very close friend."

"I get that now, but you should have told me that right away and you should have told me about Oliver right away."

"I know, but I thought you might be hurt more if you found out the guy I liked over you was your own friend and Quidditch captain. I thought it would be a huge mess, but everything came back to haunt us anyway." She sighed and her shoulders slumped slightly. "Kenna thinks we like each other, too, when really-,"

"You still like Oliver?" Fred guessed.

Angelina nodded. "The crazy story gets crazier, huh?"

Fred shook his head. "I've seen a lot of crazy in my lifetime, and this isn't crazy."

"It's not?" Angelina asked.

"No," he said. "This, this is bloody mental."

Angelina laughed. "You're completely right."

"So," Fred raked a hand through his hair, "Oliver and Kenna had a thing over the summer and he blew her off because…?"

"I think it's because he still likes me," Angelina said. "I feel terrible. I think he's trying to talk to Kenna again so he could be around me more. I couldn't bring myself to say anything to her. I had promised myself I wouldn't say anything about me and Oliver and I had promised you I wouldn't say anything about what happened between us. I'm a horrible friend, keeping all of this from her."

"I kept a lot of stuff from her, too, and she kept stuff from me," Fred shrugged.

"I think you should go talk to her and sort it out," Angelina said.

"She's talking to Oliver," he said. Then he paused. "Except you don't think Oliver really likes her?"

Angelina shook her head. "He might have somewhat liked her at one point, but no, I don't think he truly likes her."

"You _hope_ he doesn't," Fred teased as Angelina laughed. "It does look like they're arguing. At least, Kenna doesn't look too happy."

Angelina bit her lip again. "I think he may have told her the truth."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Finally they're figuring out the truth. :D Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**


	18. Chapter 18

"_You know, when it works, love is pretty amazing. It's not overrated. There's a reason for all those songs." _**–Sarah Dessen**

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><p>"You pretended to like me so that you could be around Angelina more?" McKenna finally asked, staring at Oliver with wide eyes. "You wanted to make Angelina jealous?"<p>

"No, I didn't pretend, not completely," Oliver said. "I did like you over the summer, but then I realized that I still liked Angelina. A lot. That's why I decided to start up a relationship with you again when school started."

"Excuse me? You _still_ liked Angelina?" McKenna repeated. "You still _liked_ her? As in you've liked her before?"

"Yeah," Oliver said slowly, with the expression of a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Angelina and I dated secretly back in January."

"You _what_? It was _you_ she was dating?"

"Yeah, why, you knew something was up with her?"

"Well, yeah, we're best friends! Of course I can sense these things."

"Who did you think it was?" Oliver asked.

"Never mind that now," McKenna said dismissively. "Tell me one thing, though. Back in Hogsmeade a few weeks ago, you specifically said 'what if I told you I still did have feelings for you?' What was that supposed to mean if it didn't apply to me?"

"I guess I was practicing," Oliver sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. "You're her best friend and you two have a lot of the same outlooks and opinions. I wanted to see how you would react so then I would have an idea of how Angelina would react when I told her. Look, there was sort of something there with me and you and I did like you, but Angelina…I don't know. I just haven't gotten over her."

"I was the rebound girl." McKenna stated. It wasn't even a question. "Then, you used me and you lied to me. Did you even mean anything you said to me about being sorry and wanting to be friends?"

"Of course I meant it and no, you weren't the rebound girl," Oliver said quickly.

"So what was it?" she asked. "Think of what it sounds like to me. You liked Angelina and had a secret relationship with her nearly a year ago. Then you broke up and over the summer you liked, excuse me, 'liked'," she made quote marks in the air, "me and then blew me off and wouldn't answer my letters because you liked another girl. You didn't even tell me you liked another girl until later. Originally, you were just blowing me off. You blew off my letters and our plans and you led me on yet again for the past two months! And Angelina! She never said anything and we're best friends!"

Oliver took a deep breath. "I never contacted Angelina over the summer. I didn't know how. I just knew I still had feelings for her. That's why she never mentioned anything about that. She didn't know. And obviously, our relationship in January was kept a secret. We swore not to tell anyone, not even our best friends. She wanted to tell you, but we both agreed not to tell a soul. Well, actually, the secret thing was mainly her idea, but I agreed to it. She had to force herself not to tell you."

"Why did you? Keep that relationship a secret, I mean," McKenna asked.

Oliver took a breath and looked as if he was unsure on whether to tell her or not.

"Just tell me, Oliver," McKenna said. "Just get it all out in the open. You might as well."

"Fred liked Angelina, but Angelina just wanted to be his friend. They're close, so I guess he mistook all the acts of friendship for her liking him. So did George, I guess. She wanted to keep the relationship a secret so that he wouldn't find out suddenly and get hurt. I think he found out anyway, though. I don't think he found out it was me she was dating, but he found out she was dating someone. Angelina says he was still terribly hurt and she felt awful about it. That's why she broke up with me. She felt guilty about hurting Fred."

McKenna looked at him and nodded her head slightly in understanding. "So that's what happened with them. I figured there was something. That's who I thought Angelina liked. Does Fred still like Angelina? I mean, I thought he still did, and he asked her to the ball. I thought they still had something…"

Oliver shook his head. "I was beginning to think there might have been something. That's why I asked you earlier, but Angelina has said multiple times before that they're just friends, nothing more. She thinks Fred likes you."

"She's told me that," McKenna said, crossing her arms.

"Why would she say that if she didn't mean it?"

"I don't know," McKenna mumbled. "To get me away from you."

"I think she genuinely believes Fred likes you. Even I think he likes you."

McKenna rolled her eyes. "Okay, sure."

"You don't believe us." Oliver raised an amused eyebrow.

"No," she said. "Fred would never like me."

Oliver laughed. "I think he always truly has. Deep down, anyway. And I think deep down you've always truly liked him, but you're just admitting it now."

"I haven't admitted anything of the sort," McKenna said defiantly.

"Ah, but I think you will. You two are perfect for each other."

"No," McKenna said, shaking her head. "We're best friends. That's it. That's all I'll ever be to him."

"Ah," Oliver said. Have you ever noticed how he acts less friendly towards me? Ever since he sensed something was up between us. I think you were so preoccupied with figuring out his secrets, hiding your own secrets from him, and figuring out why Fred was acting so weird, that you missed the most obvious hints. "

"I _was_ pretty preoccupied," McKenna sighed.

Oliver nodded. "Yeah, I'd say you were. Look, I'm really sorry. I'm not a bad guy. At least, I wasn't trying to be. I just went about everything the absolute wrong way."

"I'll say," McKenna groaned. "You _used _me."

"Yeah, I'm an idiot," Oliver sighed. "Oddly enough, though, you aren't as upset as I thought you'd be."

McKenna raised her eyebrows. "Do you want me to start hitting you and screaming and crying in the middle of the Yule Ball?"

"No," Oliver said quickly.

"I thought I'd be more upset, too," she whispered. "No offense to you, but I'm not that upset this time around. I was more upset over the summer."

"No offense taken," Oliver shrugged.

"Maybe I just expected less from you this time," she shrugged. Oliver gave her a guilty smile.

"You must really think poorly of me now," he said.

"No," she sighed. "I'm more upset with myself. I just can't believe I thought things could work out."

"They might with Fred," Oliver said. "I think that's another reason why you're less upset with me. You probably didn't want it to work out anyway. You want it to work out with Fred."

McKenna shook her head. "Even if I did, I doubt it will work out. Apparently, I have rotten luck. You know," she said quietly. "Why don't you go talk to Angelina?"

"Fred-,"

"—is a big boy. He can handle being alone for a while."

"Why don't you talk to him?"

"Distract him, you mean," McKenna laughed. Oliver let out a small laugh too.

"I actually don't think there's going to be a need for that." He pointed over McKenna's shoulder. "He's coming over here."

McKenna turned and sure enough, Fred was coming towards her. She turned back to Oliver and gave him a small smile. "Go win Angelina over again. And while you're over there tell her that I'll let her off tonight because it's the ball but tomorrow we are having a talk!"

"Will do," Oliver said. He leaned over and gave McKenna a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying away.

McKenna turned to face Fred and saw him standing behind her, staring at her oddly. "What's up?" he asked, sounding like he had forced the words out.

"I should be asking you that," she said, standing up and brushing past him. "You're the one who came over here." She suddenly felt nervous and she was still slightly annoyed that Oliver had used her, and she was really annoyed with herself.

"Where are you going?" Fred asked, following her out of the great hall and then outside to the front steps.

"I have a slight headache," McKenna said. It was the truth. Her head was sort of pounding with all of the information and she wasn't happy about being suddenly dateless in the middle of the Yule Ball. She had to tell Oliver to go be with Angelina, though. She wouldn't have been able to enjoy herself with him after what she had just found out.

"It's snowing," Fred said quietly from behind her.

"I'm aware," she said, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I found out about you and Oliver," Fred said.

"I—what?" McKenna whirled around and looked at Fred. "Who told you?"

"Angelina," Fred said. "Apparently her and Oliver had a thing in January, and they never stopped liking each other, and-,"

"I know, Oliver told me all that," she said, wrapping her arms around herself. "He used me and I feel like an idiot for letting him. I actually think I'm more upset with myself than him."

"You don't deserve that, Kenna. You don't know how badly I want to strangle him right now. I will if you want me to."

A smile actually flickered across McKenna's face. "No, it's okay. I just feel so…tired I guess. Not physically, but I'm just tired of everything that's happened."

Fred took a step closer and when McKenna didn't move away, he closed the space between them and hugged her. "What if we go have that long overdue talk in that place where nobody can find us?"

"Now?" she asked.

"Why not?" He shrugged, took her hand and led her back inside the school. "I know the perfect place to go."

"I'm sure you do," McKenna managed to tease. Fred threw a smile over his shoulder and it was a wonder her knees didn't give out. There was no denying it anymore. She had fallen head over heels for Fred and she could only hope that she didn't get hurt again.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, Fred and McKenna were up in the Astronomy tower. Fred had locked the door behind them, although they doubted anyone would be coming up there when there was a ball going on.<p>

McKenna took a shaky breath and leaned against the wall. Fred took a spot next to her. McKenna felt her heartbeat quicken when his arm brushed hers. "So, you know the story about Angelina and Oliver?" she asked.

"Yeah, you do too?"

"Just found out."

"So did I. Odd, isn't it?"

"Yeah," McKenna said, "and all this time I thought you and Angelina liked each other."

"I did like her," Fred explained. "Last January."

"Oliver mentioned that."

Fred nodded. "Yeah, I really liked her and I thought she liked me too. So did George, but we were both wrong. Then, she started dating Oliver and I didn't even know it was him she was dating until tonight."

"You didn't?" McKenna asked, studying his face intently.

Fred shook his head. "No, it was kept a secret, which I'm sure you've already found out. Anyway, I made Angelina and George swear to keep the fact that I liked her a secret because I was so upset and embarrassed. I felt like a fool." He hit his fist against the stone wall.

"No," McKenna whispered, wrapping both her arms around his and pressing her cheek to his shoulder. "You weren't. It's funny how we both went through similar experiences, though."

"Which is why we should have talked to each other right from the beginning," Fred sighed.

"Love stinks," McKenna whispered.

"Not always," Fred responded, looking down at her.

"What are you talking about?" McKenna asked.

"You know that feeling when you actually do really like someone?" Fred whispered, remembering what George had said to him over the summer. He reached up and trailed a finger across McKenna's cheek.

"Yeah," she whispered back. "What about it?"

"That's the best part," Fred answered, brushing a strand of hair out of McKenna's face. "It's only when it doesn't work out that it stinks."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Me too," Fred said.

They sat in silence for a few moments, neither of them saying a word.

"Can I just say that I thought you were being a hypocrite all year?" Fred finally said.

"Was that really necessary for you to say that?" McKenna asked, letting go of his arm and moving away. Anger was suddenly flaring up inside of her again. "I don't need this from you again, Fred. You finally found out what was up with me. You got what you wanted, you're happy, now can't you just leave it alone?" She was nearing her wit's end and pretty near tears. Wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, she headed for the railing surrounding the tower, but Fred grabbed her arm.

"I just needed to get it off my chest, because the whole thing made me mad. We just agreed that things would have been so much easier if we had just _talked._ And I'm not happy now. I'm not happy that Oliver hurt you-,"

"I'm not happy you got hurt, either," she whispered.

"I just wanted you to trust me enough to come to me about anything," he said.

"I do trust you," she said, the tears pouring out of her eyes now. "I really do, but I didn't want you to get involved with Oliver and I didn't want to look like an idiot in front of you because I thought he really liked me and I got blown off. And now I look like even more of an idiot."

"No, you don't," Fred insisted.

"And you know everything I've been hiding now but you still haven't tried to tell me the one last thing I don't know about you yet. Why was the tournament so important to you, Fred?"

Fred swallowed. "I've been trying to tell you, but-,"

"It's not my fault we keep getting interrupted," she practically yelled, "and there aren't any interruptions now, so please tell me. I don't care that you have no money or that you bet all your savings with Bagman. If you can know all of this stuff about me and be okay with it and like me anyway, then I can certainly do the same for you. Haven't you learned that? That's something _I've_ learned from all of this."

"I wanted you to be proud of me!" Fred finally yelled. "I wanted you to know that I wasn't completely careless! I wanted to win the money to open that joke shop that George and I have always wanted to open. I want my parents to be proud of me, no matter how many OWLs I got, and I want you to be proud of me, because I _like_ you!"

"Yeah, well I like you too!" McKenna screamed back without really thinking. They both clapped their hands over their mouths at the same time as they realized what had slipped out of their mouths. There was complete silence and McKenna felt as if every last bit of air had been knocked out of her. She was so shocked and happy and she had felt and learned so much in the past hour that she didn't know what to do or how to act.

"I hated seeing you with Oliver," Fred said. "I thought it was going to be another Angelina situation. And think how I felt when I discovered that she had been dating Oliver back in January, and then you were with him. It was just always him."

McKenna backed up into the wall and took a big shuddering breath. She didn't think she could form a coherent sentence if she tried. Her brain was buzzing wildly. "And I hated seeing you with Angelina," she finally managed. "I thought you really liked her and I didn't want to be blown off again. I didn't think you would ever like me. I didn't think I was good enough."

"Why wouldn't you be?" Fred asked, taking a step towards her. "You're beautiful, smart, funny, and you're always willing to pull pranks with me and George, although you do tend to keep us grounded." He had reached McKenna by now and was standing so close that McKenna could reach out and touch him if she wanted.

"I'm sorry," she whispered "for not telling you everything right from the beginning."

"I'm sorry, too," Fred said. "From here on out, let's officially promise that we won't do this ever again."

"Agreed," McKenna nodded, making a hiccupping sound as her tears subsided.

Fred stepped a little closer and brought his hand up to her cheek, rubbing her tears away. "You have slight raccoon eyes."

McKenna laughed. "I knew I should have charmed that makeup to not run," she said, "but I really didn't think I'd be crying tonight."

"Thankfully, I'm quite fond of raccoons," Fred said. "Especially raccoon tea kettles."

"They're all the rage," McKenna said, laughing quietly.

Fred took another step closer until their toes were touching. They just looked at each other for a moment, smiling slightly.

Feeling suddenly brave, McKenna smiled wider. "You need more help than I thought," smirking as she remembered the words he had spoken to her during the dance lessons. "You're worse than I suspected at this sort of thing."

"At what-," Fred began, but McKenna interrupted him. She stood on her tiptoes and rested one hand on his cheek and one on his chest as she pressed a kiss to his lips. Fred responded almost at once, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her as close as he could to him. When McKenna finally pulled away, he let out a noise of disappointment, causing her to giggle. She slipped away from him and stepped over to the railing. It was snowing a little harder now and McKenna twirled around, her arms outstretched.

"I'm a balloon," she said.

"A balloon?" Fred asked.

"Yes, a balloon," she repeated, glancing at him. He was leaning against the wall and smiling at her, but he also had his eyebrows raised as if he thought she had gone crazy. Maybe she had. She stopped twirling and faced him, gesturing for him to come closer. He pushed off the wall and approached her. "I need to know," McKenna said seriously, "if you're a balloon, too."

Fred gave a small laugh. "What?"

"You know that feeling you get when you're so happy that your insides feel like they're expanding and you could float away any second?"

"Like a balloon?" Fred asked, smiling wider.

"Exactly," she answered.

"Yes, I know what you mean," Fred said.

"Well, I'm a balloon," McKenna told him. "Are you?"

"I'm a balloon," Fred whispered. "You know, it might be a little late for this, but I really wanted to get the chance to ask you. So, McKenna will you go to the ball with me?"

"It's half over," she giggled, "so, yes, you're a little late."

"Well, let me rephrase that, then. McKenna, will you go to the second half of the ball with me?"

"I would love to," she answered, smiling.

"Would you like to dance?"

McKenna nodded. "I thought you'd never ask."

"Well, you're doing it wrong," he said in a mock bossy tone. "You have to put one hand here," he said, putting one of her hands on his shoulder and holding her other hand, already locked with his out to the side. "You had it half right."

"Well, excuse me," she laughed.

"Now, do I have to drag you?" he asked.

"No, I've gotten a lot better," she assured him.

"Okay, raccoon eyes."

That made McKenna stomp on his foot purposely.

"Alright, maybe I deserved that," Fred said, twirling her around. He pulled her closer to him and she felt butterflies in her stomach.

"Fred?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he whispered.

"I just want you to know that I'm always proud of you. You didn't need to enter a tournament to impress me."

"Are you sure? I mean, I could easily have done what Harry did with the dragon and used my amazing Quidditch skills to capture the golden egg."

"You know I don't particularly care for Quidditch players," she smirked.

"You told Oliver that you only had eyes for one," Fred whispered.

"I didn't say it was you," she teased. "I told you that you aren't that good anyway."

"You don't want to insult a Beater," Fred said in her ear, his voice mock threatening. "We're the ones with the bats."

"But not always the aim, unfortunately," she sighed, a smirk playing on her lips.

Fred let out a laugh and dipped her backwards slightly over the railing. "You want to insult me again? I'll drop you."

"You want to kiss me again? You'd better think twice about dropping me."

"I hate when you win," Fred said, sighing dramatically and pulling her back up. She giggled and kissed him again. "But seriously," he said. "I could have taken on that dragon."

"Okay," she giggled.

"I'm not kidding," he said.

"I know you're not," McKenna laughed, "and I believe you. That dragon has nothing on you."

"That's what I like to hear," Fred whispered. "By the way, at least I can dance."

McKenna stomped on his foot again. "Shut up before I throw _you_ over the railing."

"Got it," Fred said quickly, as McKenna giggled and closed her eyes. Finally, she had found the guy she was the most happy with. She was walking on air and she realized Fred had been right. What she was feeling now made everything worth it.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry that this chapter's so long. There was just a lot I wanted to get in. Anyway, I hope it doesn't disappoint! Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**


	19. Chapter 19

"_Fighting for your dreams isn't always easy, but it's so worth it." _**-Unknown**

* * *

><p>"Can I tell you something?" Fred asked quietly. He was still on the Astronomy tower with McKenna. They were standing at the railing side by side. It was still snowing and it was cold, but they neither noticed nor cared at the moment.<p>

"Yeah," she answered. Her face was tilted towards the sky and she didn't take her eyes off of it, but Fred continued to speak anyway.

"In third year when George and I first talked to you—well, you said at the beginning of this year that it was random, but it really wasn't. We did want to be your friend, but-,"

"You said something like 'you were best friends with Angelina'," McKenna said with a slight frown.

"No," Fred said, "well, I did say that, but that's not why I wanted to be your friend." He turned and rested his back against the railing, crossing his arms and looking up at the sky. "I know right now it must seem like everyone uses you to get to Angelina, but-,"

"It's true," McKenna interrupted.

"No, it's not," Fred insisted. "Think about it. It was really just Oliver."

"And you apparently."

"Will you listen?" Fred laughed. He was half annoyed and half amused by her stubbornness. "Angelina's a good friend, but George kind of got me thinking about this. You know, about why I really wanted to talk to _you_ so badly in third year. Yes, we noticed you were in all of our classes, but I realized that George was right about me."

"What was he right about?"

Fred looked over at McKenna to see she was looking at him now. Her arms were still resting on the railing, her hands clasped in front of her, but she was looking at him with interest. "He was right about why I was the one who was so intent on talking to you. I wanted to talk to you so badly because I kind of had a little mini-crush on you. I don't even know what it was because it's so different now. It's like it intensified or something this time."

"So you wanted to be my friend because you liked me?"

"Sort of," Fred said. "There was definitely something I liked about you. Maybe it was more of an instinctual feeling, something that told me I should talk to you because one day we would end up like this." He reached over and gently trailed his fingertips down McKenna's arm.

"You're crazy," McKenna laughed and Fred looked down at the ground. Maybe he was, but he truthfully didn't care that much. "But," McKenna continued, "It's what I love most about you." She had turned to face him now and was leaning sideways on the railing. "Why else would I put up with you for all these years?" She gave him a small nudge and he laughed.

"I don't know, because you had no choice?" he asked, shrugging.

"I always had a choice. I could have stopped being your friend at any time, but I never did."

Fred just smiled and continued to stare at her. "Let's get back inside," he said finally. "I'm actually starting to feel the cold now."

"So am I," McKenna agreed. Fred started to take off his jacket to give it to her, but she shook her head. "I'm fine. We're going in now anyway. Can I wear your tie, though?"

"You have to wear a tie every day for school anyway," Fred said, "so why would you want to wear mine?"

"First of all, this tie isn't in the Gryffindor colors," McKenna said, reaching out and twirling the tie in her fingers.

"It's green to match Angelina," Fred stated.

"I know that. Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"No," Fred said as he shook his head.

McKenna laughed. "Secondly, I want to wear it _because _it's yours, so hand it over."

"Bossy, bossy," Fred teased, loosening his tie, sliding it over his head and handing it to McKenna.

"No, I'm not, and thank you." She grinned and slid the tie around her own neck, leaving it loosely hanging there against her lavender dress.

"You look like springtime," Fred observed.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" McKenna asked, lacing her fingers through his as they headed down the stairs.

"It's most definitely a good thing. Once Christmas comes and goes and we do our snowball fight, there's nothing about the winter worth looking forward to."

"We still haven't made any snowmen," McKenna reminded him. "We'll be able to settle our dispute on who can build the best snowman."

"There's nothing to settle," Fred said. "I win. I always win. I make the most gorgeous snowmen the world has ever seen. They're simply dazzling and practically perfect in every way. Girls would give anything to date one of my spectacular snowmen."

"You're absolutely right. Girls just love when their dates are silent, cold, feetless round men with stick arms and vegetable noses. They also melt in the sun, which is another bonus, but you know what the most attractive thing about snowmen is?"

"What's that?" Fred asked curiously.

"Well, in my opinion," McKenna said, managing to keep a straight face and a serious tone, "I love that snowmen can't talk. They just smile at you all the time as if they're agreeing with everything you say. Real boys don't do that."

"I can do that," Fred said with a scoff. "Easy."

McKenna laughed. "We'll see about that. Anyway, I have to disagree with you about you making the best snowmen. I think I make some pretty gorgeous snowmen, if I do say so myself."

"I think we can again agree that George makes hideous snowmen," Fred laughed.

"His snowmen look like lumpy…blobs," McKenna said, unable to come up with a better word to describe George's snowmen.

"Blobs with stick arms," Fred said.

"Poor George," McKenna sighed. "He wasn't given the gift of being able to create snow art."

"So what do you say to tomorrow afternoon?" Fred asked. "I'll prove to you that I make the best snowmen ever."

"More like _I'll_ be proving to _you_ that _I _make the best snowmen." McKenna stopped walking and turned to face him. They were standing outside the great hall now and it looked like most of the people had cleared out. Only a few couples were still inside.

"You think pretty highly of yourself, don't you?" Fred teased.

McKenna nodded, smirking at him teasingly. She turned to look into the great hall. "I don't see Oliver or Angelina. I wonder what happened between them. Do you think they got together?"

Fred shrugged. "I don't know. All that really matters is that I finally told you that I like you. I've wanted to tell you for a while, ever since I figured it out."

"When was that?" she asked.

Fred shrugged. "The night we went for that walk outside and you gave me the speech about how you've never judged me."

McKenna nodded and bit her lip. "I kept trying to convince myself that I liked Oliver. I thought it would be easier for me to like him because I thought I didn't have a shot with you."

"Oliver was never worth your time," Fred said. He cupped McKenna's chin in his hand and tilted her face upwards. "I can tell you right now that you deserve better than that."

"So, you're saying someone like you?" McKenna asked with a smirk.

Fred blushed. "Well, yeah, I guess so."

"You think pretty highly of yourself, don't you?" she teased, raising an eyebrow.

"You're a pain in the-," Fred began, laughing, but he never got to finish because McKenna stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, throwing her arms around his neck. Fred actually backed into the wall from the force.

"What were you about to say?" McKenna whispered into his ear and Fred just knew she was smirking.

"Uh, nothing, I don't remember," he muttered.

"That was my intention," she whispered before finding his lips again. Fred moved his hands from cupping her face to her hips and he spun her around so she was against the wall. She let out a small gasp as her back hit against the wall with more force than Fred had intended.

"Sorry," he mumbled, placing a hand on the wall to steady himself.

"It's payback for me keeping so many secrets from you, isn't it?" McKenna joked. "You're trying to give me a few broken bones."

"Nah, that might be a little too mean," Fred smirked. "I'll just completely and totally take you down tomorrow when we have our snowman competition. That'll be payback enough, I think."

"Oh, but it won't be payback at all because I will win," McKenna told him.

"If you say so," Fred whispered, kissing her jaw, "but maybe you'll just let me win."

"Are you admitting I'm capable of winning and that you're scared I will so you're trying to distract me and getting me to agree to let you win?" McKenna asked.

"Only if it's working," Fred answered, moving on to start kissing her ear.

"No," she whispered, "it's not."

Fred let out a disappointed groan in her ear. "You're a tough one to crack," he said.

"You're charms don't work on everyone," she said, giggling.

"I thought they did work on you, though," Fred said, bringing both hands to her hips again.

"To an extent," she answered, "but not enough to make me _let_ you win the snowman tournament."

"I tried," Fred muttered.

"Perhaps you aren't trying hard enough," McKenna said with a small smile and a one-shouldered shrug.

"I think you might be right," Fred agreed, going back for her lips again.

* * *

><p>Fred woke up the next morning to a pillow being thrown at his face. He simply grabbed it and pulled it closer to him, snuggling against it without opening his eyes.<p>

"Give that back," George's voice said and Fred felt him trying to pry the pillow away, but he still didn't let go. Finally, he loosened his grip and George tugged the pillow free before hitting Fred in the face again. "Git," he muttered. "Where were you all night?"

"All night?" Fred asked, sitting up. "You make it sound as if I just got back. When I got back it was still dark out, but you were were sleeping as if you haven't slept in months."

"Dancing takes a lot of energy out of you," George said, sitting down on his own bed. "Especially when you're as good at it as I am."

"Yeah, you have all the moves," Fred said sarcastically.

"Anyway, what time did you get back?" George asked.

Fred shrugged. "I don't know, 12:30 maybe?"

"Technically, that is morning," George said. "It was past midnight, making it morning. You were out all night."

"I consider it to be night for as long as it's dark out," Fred said, "so therefore, Georgie, I was not out all night."

"We're not going by Fred time," George insisted. "We're going by universal clocks."

"Rules," Fred muttered. "I hate them."

"Care to tell me what happened to you halfway through the ball?" George asked. "You certainly weren't with Angelina because she spent the second half of the evening talking to Oliver before going back to the common room. And if she was with Oliver, then Oliver couldn't have been with McKenna, which means _you_ were with her."

"Kenna could have gone up to bed early," Fred shrugged, trying to hide his smile.

"Uh-huh, and Malfoy's parents could be shipping the little ferret off to Timbuktu in a crate. Possible, but extremely unlikely," George said.

"Fine, I was with her," Fred said, trying not to laugh. "Although, if Malfoy's parents won't send him off, do you think _we_ can?"

"I'd like to try, but then I'd feel sorry for the people in Timbuktu. They didn't do anything to deserve something as horrible as Malfoy."

"True," Fred agreed.

"So, you were with McKenna," George prodded. "Where did you go?"

"We went somewhere and talked."

"Where's somewhere?"

"The Astronomy tower," Fred answered.

"And you talked? You told her everything?"

"Everything," Fred said. He looked down at his hands. "First, though, I have to tell you that Angelina was dating Oliver back in January. Angelina told me last night."

"Wait, so Angelina was secretly dating Oliver?" George asked.

"Then they broke up," Fred continued.

"And Oliver had a thing with McKenna over the summer."

"But he realized he still liked Angelina so he blew McKenna off. That's what she was hiding from me."

"Okay, so she was hurt and embarrassed by that," George said, "but then Oliver started talking to her again."

"To be closer to Angelina," Fred said. "He used Kenna to get to Angelina and make her jealous."

"What an idiot!" George said.

"I know. I wanted to hurt him, but the only reason I haven't is because Kenna's not that upset. She was a little," Fred shrugged, "but not anymore."

"Because?" George prodded.

Fred finally broke into a full-fledged grin. "Because she likes me."

"She does?" George exclaimed.

"She does," Fred said. He shrugged one shoulder and smiled even wider. "So we're together now."

"Did you kiss her?" George wiggled an eyebrow.

"Mm," Fred nodded.

"How was it?"

"Amazing," Fred said. "I still can't believe she's finally mine."

"Feels good, doesn't it?" George smirked. When Fred nodded, he laughed. "Still think we should continue to swear off girls forever?"

"Never," Fred said, shaking his head. "I love girls."

"You love _one_ girl," George corrected.

Fred paused and looked at George. It hadn't slipped by him that George had used to word 'love'. Did he love McKenna? Sometimes he felt like he did, but then he wasn't exactly sure. Before he could think about it further, there was the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Get up!" The voice came from the doorway as a blur of color raced through the room and jumped onto Fred's bed.

"Speaking of that girl," Fred mumbled.

"Merry Christmas! You haven't even opened any of your gifts yet!" McKenna looked at the piles at the foot of the twins beds. "I was hoping you'd have opened mine already. I opened yours. Thanks for the scarf, George." She pulled the scarf tighter around her neck. "And Fred, thanks for the Sugar Quills. You bought me about ten of them."

"Why are you smirking like that?" he asked.

McKenna turned and fished through his pile of presents until she found one. "Here, open it and you'll see why."

Fred took the present from her and tore off the paper. When he saw what was inside, he laughed. It was a bunch of Sugar Quills.

"Want to eat them in the common room tonight after everyone goes to bed and get so sugar high that everything's funny?" McKenna asked.

"Oh, you know I do," Fred said. "After our snowman competition of course."

"So, it's a date?" McKenna asked.

"It's a date," he repeated, leaning over to kiss her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: It's not the end yet! I'm most likely going to go up until the end of the year before I end the story. Thanks for all of the reviews! I was nervous about how they got together and if everyone would like it. Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to keep reviewing!**


	20. Chapter 20

"_The fate of your heart is your choice and no one else gets a vote."_** –Sarah Dessen**

* * *

><p>"Oh good, you're awake," McKenna said as she returned to her dorm after visiting Fred and George to find Angelina awake and going through her presents. She smiled shyly at McKenna.<p>

"I think we have lots of talking to do."

McKenna nodded and sat down on her bed, facing her friend. "Why didn't you tell me about what was going on with you and Oliver?" She didn't even try to keep the hurt out of her voice. She could sort of understand why it had been a secret, but she still wanted to understand more.

Angelina sighed. "How much do you know?"

"I know you dated Oliver in January. He said you kept it a secret because Fred liked you."

"He's right," Angelina said. "Fred liked me and I knew it. I didn't handle it the right way. I continued to act like one of his best friends. You know, the typical stuff, putting my arm around him, laughing and joking with him. I didn't mean for it to come across as anything other than friendship, but I guess it came across that way after all. I knew if he found out I was dating another guy, he'd be crushed, so I kept it a secret from everybody to make sure Fred would never find out, but he found out anyway. He felt like an idiot and made me and George promise to never tell anyone."

McKenna bit her lip and looked at her feet. "Did you know Oliver still liked you over the summer?"

"He just told me last night at the ball. I figured he still liked me now, but I didn't say anything in case I was wrong. I didn't know how to go about warning you without telling you about me and Oliver dating back in January and then breaking the promise I made to Fred. I wanted him to tell you himself about what he went through."

"Is that why you kept trying to push me towards confessing my feelings for Fred? So Oliver wouldn't hurt me? Or was that because you liked Oliver and wanted me to stay away?"

"No," Angelina said. "Trying to move you away from Oliver was my way of trying to make sure you weren't hurt without having to actually tell you anything. Plus, I wanted Fred to move on and be happy and I wanted you to be happy and I didn't think that was going to be with Oliver. I'm really sorry I never mentioned anything before. Oliver used you twice and I never did anything. I'm a terrible best friend."

"No, you're not, but I just wish you had told me sooner. I wish Fred had told me a lot of things sooner too. Firstly, I felt like a jerk anyway playing into Oliver's games and I felt like a jerk again when I found out you had a thing with him. I didn't want to steal him from you. It also makes me wonder whether or not I'm actually worth being told the truth."

"No, I didn't think you were stealing him. You didn't know. I couldn't stand that he hurt you because of me, and I'm an idiot for not saying anything. And Kenna, of course you're worth the truth," Angelina said gently. "It's just that I didn't want to tell you about Oliver originally because I didn't want Fred to find out and then by the time he found out about the relationship, Oliver and I were close to breaking up and when we did, I didn't see any point in telling anyone. Fred didn't tell you a lot of stuff, because, well, he had his own reasons."

"We talked last night," McKenna said quietly. "We just told each other everything."

"How'd it go?" Angelina asked. "I was wondering where you went off to." A smirk formed on her face.

"Well," McKenna said, smirking as well. "It all worked out."

"So you're friends again?" Angelina asked.

McKenna nodded. "Actually, now I guess we're more than friends."

"You're _dating_?" Angelina practically screeched. "I didn't know it would happen so fast after Oliver told you the truth."

"I wasn't that upset about Oliver this time," McKenna said. "You and Katie were right about me. I liked Fred. I just didn't want to admit it in case I got hurt again. I think I just kind of agreed to go along with Oliver's plan thinking it was safe the second time around." She shrugged and half smiled. "I was wrong about that, though."

"Fred would never hurt you," Angelina said. "He likes you way too much."

"You had him all figured out," McKenna said with a laugh.

"I had a hunch," Angelina corrected, "that just turned out to be right."

"Nearly all of your hunches turn out to be right."

"What can I say? I've got a talent," Angelina shrugged.

"Tell me again why you dropped Divination?" McKenna giggled.

"For the same reason you did."

"Well, I was no good at it," McKenna said, "in addition to it being a ridiculous class, but you, on the other hand, might have some skill." She kicked her friend teasingly. "Anyway, what happened between you and Oliver last night? I convinced him to go talk to you. How'd it go?"

Angelina took in a deep breath. "I told him I needed time to consider. I don't know if I want to get into another huge mess again."

"There wouldn't be another mess," McKenna said. "You don't have to worry about Fred anymore because, well, he likes me." She sniffed and flipped her hair before bursting into laughter. Angelina threw a pillow at her.

"Conceited," she muttered, laughing.

"It's true, though. You don't have to worry about him getting hurt and you don't have to worry about me. Oliver really likes you. He likes you so much that he was completely desperate and acted crazy to get to you. Not many guys will go insane for a girl," she joked. "Plus every bit of truth is out in the open now. Isn't it?"

"It is," Angelina said. "I guess you're right."

"Do you like him?" McKenna asked.

Angelina shrugged. "Yeah, I do."

"When you're around him," McKenna said, trying to keep a straight face, "do you feel like a balloon?"

Angelina laughed. "Yes, actually. And we never got to properly be together before."

"Then I think you have your answer," McKenna said. "I think you should open his gift,"—she gestured to the wrapped present on top of the pile at the end of Angelina's bed—"Then you should get dressed and go talk to him."

"And what will you do in the meantime?" Angelina teased. She grabbed her pillow and made kissy faces at it. "Of course, you'll be with Fred!"

McKenna scowled before grabbing her own pillow and flinging it at Angelina. "You're just jealous because you don't have anyone to kiss."

"Yet," Angelina said, wiggling her eyebrows jokingly.

"Oh you are so terribly cool," McKenna joked. "I'm going to leave now so you can beautify yourself to see Ollie." She batted her eyelashes as she grabbed her coat, scarf and hat and headed for the door.

"Have fun with Freddie," Angelina screamed back in a singsong voice.

McKenna stuck her head back inside the room. "Oh, I will," she answered, sticking out her tongue before disappearing again.

* * *

><p>"Katie has very generously agreed to be the judge for our snowman competition today," George said, swinging Katie's hand in his as he and Katie walked through the snow with McKenna and Fred, who were also holding hands.<p>

"Are you sure that's fair?" McKenna asked with a smirk. "She might be a tiny bit biased."

"Yeah, I don't even know why you insisted on being part of this competition, George," Fred teased. "Kenna and I already agreed that you make the worst snowmen."

"I make wonderful snowmen," George said, "and I'm going to prove it to you when I win."

"The only way you'll win," Fred said, "is if Katie chooses you because like Kenna said, she's biased."

"I am not!" Katie protested. "I solemnly swear that I will judge your snowmen fairly."

"You solemnly swore," Fred teased, "so that means you can't back down."

George groaned. "Katie, why did you have to solemnly swear? You could have just regular promised and then crossed your fingers behind your back or something."

Fred laughed and kicked up some snow at George. "Prepare to lose, George."

"No, you prepare to lose," George responded.

"No, you!" Fred answered, dropping McKenna's hand and tackling George into the snow. They started wrestling around and McKenna turned to smirk at Katie.

"What do you say we ditch them?"

"What about your snowman competition?" Katie asked.

McKenna shrugged. "They'll find us eventually and then we can have it."

Katie agreed and the two of them quickly ran further on ahead, hiding behind a few trees. McKenna leaned against one and laughed as she caught her breath.

"So," Katie said with a knowing smile and McKenna began to regret running off alone with her since her friend was most likely going to start firing off questions about Fred.

"So what?" McKenna shrugged, deciding to play it casual.

"You and Fred," Katie stated. "I guess you two do like each other after all. Angelina and I knew it would happen eventually."

"You were right," McKenna shrugged, not even trying to deny it.

"Are you happy?" Katie asked.

McKenna nodded. "Who knew that Fred was keeping stuff from me because he liked me?"

"I knew," Katie smirked.

McKenna was about to answer, but she suddenly heard the twins coming closer. She could hear them talking so she put a finger over her mouth to signal for Katie to be quiet.

"I wonder where they could have gone," Fred was saying loudly. "If we don't find them soon, we'll have to call off the competition and it would just be assumed that one of us wins. It'll just have to be a tiebreaker between us, George, which is a shame, because Kenna actually might have somewhat of a shot if she actually came out of hiding."

"Yeah, what you said," George said, just as loudly. "Plus, since our judge has mysteriously gone missing as well, we'll just have to judge our own snowmen."

McKenna bit her lip to keep from laughing, but didn't move a muscle. She would wait until the twins got closer and then jump out at them. By looking at Katie, she knew her friend was thinking the same thing. McKenna listened carefully but she couldn't hear the twins' footsteps anymore. She turned and peered around the left side of the tree. She couldn't see them anywhere either. How odd. She turned back around and saw Fred standing on her right, smirking. She let out a scream and jumped back, hitting her head on the tree trunk.

"Did I scare you?" Fred asked calmly as he smirked wider and leaned against the tree.

McKenna rubbed the back of her head and turned to share a look with Katie, but her friend was too busy hitting George upside the head. Apparently, Katie had gotten a scare as well. McKenna turned back to Fred and frowned. "You could have given me head damage. I banged my head pretty hard."

"Oh, come on," Fred laughed. He reached out and touched the spot where McKenna had hit her head. He rubbed his thumb across it. "Oh, actually, there's quite a bump. Are you growing a second head? That's horrible and completely disgusting! And did I mention horrible?"

"_You're_ completely horrible!" McKenna said, laughing as she scooped up some snow and threw it at Fred.

"Now, now," Fred said, backing away, "we're supposed to be making snowmen out of that snow, not weapons."

McKenna threw another snowball at Fred, who then lunged at her, grabbing her around the waist and spinning her around. "I'm sorry I scared you," he whispered. "Are you happy now? Will that get you to stop abusing me?"

"Abusing you!" McKenna laughed and stepped away from Fred, turning around to face him. "You're the one who scared me and caused me to bang my head, but since you apologized, I'll forgive you."

"Good," Fred said. Faster than McKenna could blink, he scooped up some snow and threw it at her. She let out a small scream.

"You're in for it now," she teased, running back up the hill, slipping every few feet. "I'm going to win the snowman competition by a landslide. You won't even see it coming."

"You're on, Collins," Fred said.

McKenna smirked, but didn't turn around. Fred only used her last name when they were having a competition of some sort. He always used last names in competitions. It was kind of funny and cute that he was taking their snowman competition so seriously.

"I don't think we need to wait for George and Katie, do we?" McKenna asked, glancing over her shoulder at her two friends that were lagging behind. "I mean, Katie's only judging, so she doesn't come in until the end, and we know George is going to be worthless in this competition, so what do you say we just start now?"

"Ready, set go!" Fred said all in a rush, dropping to his knees and beginning his snowman.

"Not fair, Weasley." McKenna dropped to her knees and began rushing to begin her snowman.

"Someone's serious about this," Fred teased.

McKenna paused before smiling. "Why do you say that? Because I used your last name?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess?"

"You do the same thing. When you're serious about a competition, you use the person's last name, no matter who they are. Even if they're your _girlfriend._" McKenna smirked. She loved thinking that Fred was her boyfriend and that she was his girlfriend. She still hadn't quite gotten used to it yet and she felt excited and almost tingly from happiness whenever she reminded herself.

"Today, though," Fred said, "we're competitors. We can't let our relationship get in the way of our snowman building."

"Then quit talking and get building," McKenna laughed. "Weasley," she added.

"Whatever you say…Collins." McKenna didn't miss the wink Fred threw her way and she felt herself smile, but she quickly concentrated on her snowman again. Fred may have been her boyfriend, but she was still going to beat him by a landslide.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review! :)**


	21. Chapter 21

"_Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering."_ **–Nicole Krauss**

* * *

><p><strong>"<strong>I don't know about this," Katie said, examining the three snowmen in front of her. She stood in front of McKenna's before moving to Fred's and finally George's.

George had ended up noticing the competition starting without him and had rushed to catch up and get his snowman done. Not that McKenna and Fred were far ahead, but he clearly thought he needed the time.

"George," McKenna laughed as she took in his snowman. It really was terrible. It was lumpy and tilted. The eyes were uneven and so was the mouth.

"I'm not sure what bothers me the most about that snowman," Fred said. "The fact that his mouth is on a diagonal slant, or the fact that the branches you used for arms are more like twigs. It looks like your snowman hasn't quite grown into his limbs yet."

"Don't be mean," Katie scolded with a smile. "I happen to love the snowman."

"Thank you," George said defiantly, kissing her forehead.

"You promised not to be biased!" Fred cried.

"I didn't say he won," Katie said. "I was just saying it's not _that_ _bad_ of a snowman."

"And Trelawney's not _that bad_ of a teacher," Fred said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, let's stop talking and get to the part where I win," McKenna said.

Fred grabbed her from behind and spun her around, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Shut it," he said. "I'm going to win."

"It's a tough one," Katie said. "I don't know whose snowman to pick."

"Mine," Fred said. "You pick mine."

"Can I call it a tie?" Katie asked.

Fred dropped his arms from around McKenna and they both stared at Katie.

"I guess if you want to," McKenna said slowly.

"Okay, then that's what I'll do. It's a tie."

"But, Katie," Fred whined. "You solemnly swore!"

"Yeah, to not be biased and pick George's because I was dating him," Katie laughed. "You never said anything about declaring a tie."

"Fine," Fred said. He turned to McKenna. "One day I will beat you fair and square. This isn't over, Collins."

"No, you're right, it's not…Weasley." McKenna poked Fred's chest and smirked before walking away. Fred watched her go before turning back to George and Katie, a smile on his face.

"She's almost as competitive as you two," Katie said.

"I know," Fred said, smiling wider. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"I think Freddie's in love," Katie teased.

George wiggled his eyebrows at Fred and smiled as he and Katie headed for the castle. Fred stood where he was, thinking about what Katie had said. There was that word again: love. Was he in love with McKenna?

* * *

><p>McKenna was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch next to Fred, whose elbows were resting against the couch cushions, his head thrown back as he laughed. McKenna leaned into his side, shaking with her own silent laughter. Fred had just told her the comment George had made about wanting to ship Malfoy off to Timbuktu in a crate and it had sent them both into a fit of hysterics.<p>

"It should have stopped being funny about four minutes ago," McKenna said, gasping for air. It felt like they had been laughing for at least five minutes.

"But it didn't," Fred said as his laughter slowed and he brought a hand to his eyes to wipe away the tears of laughter.

As they had planned, the two of them had stayed up late and gotten completely sugar high and now anything and everything was funny.

"This is worse than last time," McKenna said, sitting up again and leaning her head back on the couch.

Fred reached behind him and pulled one of the couch cushions completely off the couch, throwing it at McKenna. "Tag, you're it." Then he fell into a fit of laughter. Fred was impossible on a sugar high. McKenna found that she couldn't talk to him like a normal person, but it was usually hilarious anyway and she suspected that she wasn't much better. Her suspicions were confirmed when she found herself picking up the cushion and hitting him over the head with it.

"Now you're it!" She burst into laughter as she jumped on top of him and began to tickle his neck, his most ticklish spot. Their laughter was so loud that McKenna was surprised no one had come down to yell at them to go to bed yet. It didn't matter anyway. If anyone did come down, it would only send her and Fred into more laughing fits.

Somehow, Fred managed to flip her over and start tickling her sides. She screeched with laughter and kicked her feet, but Fred sat on her legs.

"I can't breathe!" McKenna finally managed to gasp out through her laughter. Fred stopped tickling her and rolled onto his side, trying to catch his breath as well. He turned his head to face the fire and McKenna fell into a coughing fit as she tried to regain her own breath.

"Merlin, you sound like my great Aunt Muriel with all of that wheezing," Fred said, still sounding breathless. He turned his head back to face her and the two of them looked at each other. They were silent for a few seconds before dissolving into more laughter. Finally, it slowed once more and McKenna smiled as she looked down at Fred. His cheeks were a light pink and his hair was sticking up in a million places. It may have been the cutest he had ever looked.

"If you make a comment like that again," she teased, giggling, "I'll have to hit you. Your Aunt Muriel is the last person I want to be compared to. No offense, of course."

Fred let out a small laugh and smiled at her. "You're nothing like her, trust me. If you were, do you think I'd be dating you?"

McKenna brought her hand back as if she was about to playfully hit him, but when Fred flinched, she smirked and lowered her arm. She shifted herself so that she was lying down next to him. He moved his arm around her shoulders and she pressed her cheek to his chest. "You look really cute when you laugh," she blurted out. What she said actually caused Fred to let out a small laugh. McKenna felt his chest rising and falling with the movement and she raised her head and propped up on her elbow to look at him. "What was so funny about that?" she giggled.

"Nothing, I'm just flattered that you think so," he laughed. He reached over and brushed his thumb across her cheek, tangling his fingers in her hair. "You look cute when you laugh too. Beautiful, actually. I've always thought so."

McKenna felt herself blush. "Fred?"

"Hm?" he replied, staring at her intently.

"Why did you have so much trouble telling me you liked me?"

Fred sighed and pulled his hand away from her face. "Well, I had a hard time even admitting it to myself first and then you were getting involved with Oliver and every time I tried to say something, we were interrupted. I wanted to tell you, but the time was never right until the ball."

McKenna rested her head against Fred's chest again. "I would never have done stuff like this with Oliver."

"Stuff like what?"

"This," McKenna answered, sticking her hand in the air and gesturing around them. "The Sugar Quills and laughing until we cough like ancient old aunts." She smirked up at him and he let out another laugh. "I mean, he _is_ fun to be around, but it's never like this."

"What's going on with him and Angelina?" Fred asked.

"I told her to consider going out with him. It's what they both really want and they don't have to worry about hurting us because, well, we're together now. Would you ever have done something like this with Angelina?" She gently traced a pattern into his shirt with her index finger.

"Well, yeah," Fred said, nodding. "I think she would have been up for it."

"Oh," McKenna said. She stopped tracing patterns into his shirt and sat up.

"Hey," Fred said, sitting up and gently turning her to face him, a small smirk on his face. "You asked, I answered."

"I know," she replied, looking down.

"I would have done this with Angelina, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as much fun," Fred said. "Honestly. I mean it. She would've laughed with me, but she would have gotten tired of it and gone to bed about," he looked at his watch, "three hours ago."

"You used to like her, Fred," McKenna said. "Back then, what you just said didn't matter. It didn't matter that doing this is more fun with me and that Angelina would have gotten tired of staying up with you because you liked her and you wanted to be with her."

"Why are you so insecure about Angelina?" Fred asked gently. "You're best friends."

"I know we are, but I feel so…confused. I mean, I really liked Oliver over the summer. I thought he really liked me too, but he really liked Angelina the entire time. I thought he liked me again this year, but he was still trying to get to Angelina. Then, I find out that you liked her too and you were devastated when she didn't return the feelings. I just don't want to get hurt again because someone wants to get Angelina."

"I may have liked Angelina before," Fred said, "but that's just it. I don't like her like that anymore. I promise. Since January, our friendship has been slowly getting back to what it used to be. We're close friends and now I want to be with you. Only you. I don't want to get to Angelina and even if I did, I wouldn't dream of using you to get to her. I'm not like that."

"I'm sorry," McKenna said, covering her face with her hand. "I'm acting all crazy, but I'm okay now."

"Better?" Fred asked with a smile, gently rubbing circles into her back.

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"Good, because if you were still upset then I wouldn't have the heart to do this," he smirked. He grabbed the couch cushion lying on the floor and flung it at McKenna's head before tackling her and tickling her sides.

"Fred!" she gasped through her laughter as he pinned her arms to the ground. "I'm going to hex you as soon as you let me go."

"Maybe I'm not planning on it," he winked.

"Are you trying to be metaphorical or something?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Maybe," he said guiltily.

"You're insane." She tried to wrench one of her arms free so that she could give him a shove, but she was unsuccessful.

"Just remember that I also have your arms pinned to the ground. You're helpless, Kenna," he said teasingly.

McKenna looked back up at him as she thought. Suddenly, she had an idea. She stretched her neck up until she was able to press an unexpected kiss to his lips. Just as she had expected, Fred's hold on her arms loosened and she was able to squirm free of his grip. "Not so helpless anymore," she teased with a wink. With that, she turned and crawled behind the couch.

"Get over here," Fred laughed, crawling after her. As soon as McKenna reached the back of the couch, she turned around so that she could jump out at Fred, but she didn't know that he was right around the corner, so when she jumped out, their heads banged together.

"Ow!" they both yelped, falling onto their sides, clutching their heads. They shared a look and immediately fell into another laughing fit that left them clutching their stomachs and gasping for air. It was then that Fred realized the answer to the question that had been bouncing around in his head all day. He was in love with McKenna.

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! **


	22. Chapter 22

_"Love is a promise, love is a souvenir. Once given, never forgotten, never let it disappear." _**-John Lennon**

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><p>"Have any of you seen Angelina?" McKenna plopped down onto the common room couch next to Fred and looked around at her friends. Classes had started up again that day and McKenna hadn't seen Angelina since dinner.<p>

"I believe she's with Oliver," Lee said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"They should be back soon," Alicia answered.

McKenna brought her legs up onto the couch and tucked them under her as she leaned into Fred, yawning.

"Tired?" he asked with a laugh.

"Very," she sighed. "The first day back in classes is always the worst."

"I agree," Fred answered, pulling her closer and kissing her cheek.

"Why are you looking for Angelina?" Lee asked.

"Why do you care?" McKenna giggled. "She's my best friend. I can look for her whenever I want."

"I was just wondering if you were going to ask her about Oliver. I know you're excited for them to get together. Isn't that awkward at all?"

"Lee," Katie scolded. She tossed a crumpled paper at him, but he ducked.

"Oi, George, control your girlfriend," Lee said.

"Katie, no throwing things at Lee," George said, absentmindedly scratching his nose as he finished writing something down. McKenna suspected he was working on inventing another new product.

"George," Katie said as she playfully smacked him, "Lee was being mean to Kenna."

"Lee, no being mean to Kenna," George said.

"It was a question," Lee shrugged.

"Well, to answer it," Fred said, glancing at McKenna and knowing their thoughts on the subject were the same, "yes and no. It's odd, but honestly, I don't care anymore because I have this lovely lady here to occupy all of my attention." He gently moved the hair out of McKenna's face and kissed her forehead.

"Oh, yuck," Alicia teased.

"Yeah, if we had known you two would be like this, we'd have never encouraged you get together," Katie said, wrinkling her nose.

"Okay, firstly," Fred said, "what do you suggest we act like if you don't want us to act like a couple? And secondly, this isn't even as bad as some couples are around each other."

"Tell me about it," Lee groaned. "I feel like every time I look at Katie and George they're attached at the mouth."

"Agreed," Fred groaned.

"Not true," Katie and George said together as Katie threw more paper at Lee. George didn't even look up, but he did aim a kick at Lee's leg, which Lee dodged.

"Better luck next time," he teased.

"Hey, look who just walked in," Alicia said, the smirk on her face evident in her tone.

Everyone glanced at the portrait hole. Angelina was walking in with Oliver and they were hand in hand. When they saw the group gathered around the fire looking at them, they both blushed.

"Hi," Angelina said quietly.

"Finally," McKenna said, rolling her eyes. "It's about time."

"What's about time?" Angelina asked.

"You know what," McKenna said with a smirk, nodding towards the intertwined hands.

Angelina gave her and Fred a tiny smile. "You two are okay about this?"

McKenna and Fred nodded. "Although," McKenna said, "I think it's lucky I realized my feelings for Fred or else I might be a little upset."

Oliver blushed again. "I'm sorry I was such a jerk."

"You've said that about fifty times and I've already said I'll forgive you," McKenna said.

"She has a point," Fred smirked. "If what you did, Oliver, hadn't helped me to start dating Kenna, I would have pummeled you for hurting her. She's one of my best friends, even if I hadn't started liking her. I actually still haven't ruled out pummeling you, just so you know."

Oliver nodded. "I get it. I deserve to be pummeled."

Fred didn't say anything for a moment. "No you don't," he finally said, shaking his head and giving Oliver a sympathetic look. "Liking someone makes you do crazy things sometimes."

"I know," Oliver said.

"Alright, now that that's over with," Lee said, standing up and rolling his eyes. "I'd just like to get the obvious out and say what everyone's thinking, but won't say. Oliver, we all like you, but if you hurt Angelina, Kenna, or any one of our friends again, we _will_ pummel you."

"I wasn't thinking that," Alicia said, raising an eyebrow at Lee and trying to contain her laughter.

"I was," Fred said, raising his hand.

"And so was I," Lee said.

"Now that you mention it," George said, "if we were still having Quidditch practices, Fred and I could easily have sent a few Bludgers your way, Oliver, and make it look like a total accident."

Oliver laughed a little nervously. "Now I'm glad we don't have any practices this year."

"My point is," Lee said, "I just don't want to see another mess like I recently saw. I thought I was going to go bloody mental between the secrets and the lies and the jealousy and everyone worrying about who likes who. I mean, it was kids stuff. It could have been a whole lot simpler."

"Tell me that again after you go through what I did," Fred said, rolling his eyes. "Girls really are complicated."

"No, we're not," McKenna said. "It's all in your head."

"Great, now she's calling me mental."

"Well, you are."

"You're one to talk." Fred smirked and raised his eyebrow.

"Here we go," Lee groaned. "The lovebird bickering."

"Is it anything new?" Alicia asked. "They were always like this."

"But not like _this_," McKenna said, giving Fred a kiss.

"Have any of you seen my dinner?" Lee asked loudly. "I seem to have lost it."

"It's probably somewhere with your sanity because you lost that ages ago," Fred said, pulling away and aiming a kick at Lee, who dodged it.

"Git," he muttered.

* * *

><p>One of the upsides of classes starting again was that there was a Hogsmeade trip coming up the first Saturday after classes started. Everyone was excited, especially McKenna. She was going with Fred, George and Katie. Oliver and Angelina had even agreed to come when McKenna invited them.<p>

"What did you invite them for?" Fred muttered on the day of the Hogsmeade trip as they headed towards the village.

"Angelina's my best friend," McKenna said, "and she's your friend as well. So is Oliver."

"I've never been that close to Oliver," Fred said.

"Okay, but you're still relatively close with him." McKenna looked over at Fred to see he was staring seriously at the ground. "Hey," she said, giving his hand a tug. "Don't look so miserable."

"I know, I'm sorry," Fred said. "It's just-,"

"You're not mad at Oliver, are you? I thought you weren't mad."

"I'm not mad," Fred said. "Well, I am. I'm not going to beat him up or anything, though, I swear I'm not, but it's just that I can't believe he did what he did to you and I don't know whether to be happy for him and Ange or if I should warn her that he's a jerk. But then I remember that he was only a jerk because he wanted Angelina."

"And he was dating Angelina back when you liked her but you didn't know, so you have to make up for the time you should have been mad last year," McKenna guessed, looking down.

"McKenna," Fred said, using her full name. It still wasn't enough to get her to look at him, so he reached out and gently tilted her head up.

"I'm scared," she said. "I know you said it wouldn't happen, but I'm still scared you're going to get rid of me for Angelina."

Fred shook his head. "No, that's not going to happen. She's happy with Oliver. I wouldn't have a chance anyway."

"Fred," McKenna said, trying to turn away again, but Fred wouldn't let her. He actually stopped in the middle of the road and took her shoulders. The look in his eyes was desperate, but insistent.

"I'm not going to leave you for Angelina. Not now, not ever. Is that really what you think of me? You think I'd _use _you like that? That hurts, actually."

McKenna looked up at him sadly. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just can't help it."

"What will it take to get you to believe me?" Fred asked desperately.

McKenna stared back at him before half-smiling. "Maybe a butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks?"

"Done," Fred said at once, "but what if I also told you that I'm in love with you? Would that make you believe me?"

McKenna blinked a few times before giggling almost involuntarily. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh, but I'm just—you what?"

"I love you, Kenna," he whispered, pulling her into a gentle hug. "You don't have to say it back, but-."

"I do," McKenna said into his shirt. "I do have to say it back because I feel the same way. I love you, too. I love you so much and I think that's why I'm so scared to lose you."

Fred rested his cheek on her head and smiled. It was practically taking all the self-control he had to not go running down the road and yelling. "You're not going to lose me. I swear."

"Do you solemnly swear?"

"I solemnly swear," Fred whispered.

"Come on," McKenna finally said, breaking away from the hug and pulling on his hand. "Everyone's staring at us." She was smiling and Fred grinned back.

"Were you two having a moment?" George asked with a smirk. He was standing a few feet away, holding hands with Katie. Angelina and Oliver were slightly ahead of them, also holding hands.

Fred nodded and began to slightly swing his and McKenna's intertwined hands. "Sorry about that." George smiled and rolled his eyes before turning around and continuing walking with Katie. Fred turned back to McKenna. "So, do you believe me now?"

"I believe you," she said, "but only if you're going to stay true to your promise. You said you'd get me a butterbeer." She smirked up at him and swung their hands again.

"I told you I would," Fred said, "and you know I never back down on my promises."

"I do know that," McKenna answered, "but remember at the beginning of the year when we took a walk and we talked about your promises?"

"Yeah, right after we talked about how you never judge me," Fred said.

McKenna nodded. "I told you that you make promises and mess them up."

Fred groaned. "I promise I won't spill the butterbeer this time. It'll make up for the time I did. Are you happy now?"

"Yes," she said, "because you _promised_ you wouldn't spill it. And we both know that if you did spill it, it would mean that you didn't keep your promise. Then, your claim that you never back down on promises would be invalid. So, don't spill it."

"No pressure or anything," Fred snorted.

"None at all," McKenna answered.

"Hey," Fred called ahead of them. George, Katie, Angelina and Oliver all turned around. "I owe McKenna a butterbeer, so we're going to the Three Broomsticks."

"Fred's currently under a lot of pressure to not spill the butterbeer," McKenna added.

"We'll join you," George said. He turned to Katie. "You know I love to see Fred squirm under pressure."

The six of them found a seat in the back near one of the windows. Fred, George and Oliver went to get drinks, leaving the girls sitting in the booth.

"Fred told me he loves me," McKenna said, tracing a pattern into her napkin with her finger.

"Not surprising," Katie said, smiling.

Angelina beamed. "Do you love him back?"

McKenna smiled and nodded. "Yeah, and I told him."

"So that's what you were talking about back there," Angelina said, nodding as it finally clicked.

"Yeah," McKenna said with a happy sigh. She looked up at her two friends. "Was it that obvious that Fred and I liked each other?"

Angelina and Katie looked at each other. "It was more obvious that he liked you," Angelina finally said. "I knew something way back in third year. Fred knew you of course, but he wanted to get to know you even more."

"He said that?" McKenna asked.

"No, but he didn't have to. I just knew that he was looking at you different as if he had just noticed you."

"Yeah, he said he sort of had a mini crush on me back then," McKenna said, "but then I don't understand how he could have changed his mind and liked you and then liked me again."

"I think he always liked you," Angelina said.

"But he _really_ liked you," McKenna argued.

"I didn't say he didn't like me," Angelina shrugged, "but I think you've always had a special place in his heart. Ever since third year, anyway. Something about you made him like you back then and something brought you two together.

"Intuition?" McKenna asked. "He mentioned that maybe he just knew instinctively that we'd be good together."

"Maybe," Angelina said. "I don't think he realized he was doing this, but in third year he wouldn't shut up about you after you became friends. It was always Kenna this and Kenna that. He would always ask me about you during Quidditch practices. Sometimes," she paused and smiled, "I think he talked to me more than he normally would have because he wanted to talk about you."

McKenna looked up in surprise. "Angelina-,"

"I know how you must have felt about me when you found out everything that had happened," Angelina said. "I'm not stupid."

"It's not like it was your fault that everyone liked you," McKenna muttered.

"I still feel terrible and that's why I wanted you to know how Fred felt about you in third year. I don't want you to have any more doubts. He loves you, as he's just told you and in third year even though he wouldn't admit it and you didn't know, he was sort of using me to get to you."

"But he still liked you. A lot."

"Not anymore," Angelina said.

"I'm sorry. I'm just being weird."

"It's okay," Angelina said, reaching out to pat McKenna's hand. "I'd feel the same way if I were you."

"You're still my best friend," McKenna said. "I've been feeling too many things lately. I didn't—don't—want to lose Fred so I was just scared and maybe a little jealous of you."

"Like I said, Fred loves you," Angelina said. "He may have liked me a lot, but he _loves_ you."

McKenna smiled and looked up to see the boys making their way back from the bar. "No spills!" Fred cheered as he made it successfully to the table with the two glasses in his hands still completely full.

"Good job," McKenna said, kissing his cheek. "You didn't mess up your promise this time."

They all began laughing and joking around. McKenna found herself relaxing. What little awkwardness left between her, Oliver, Fred and Angelina was disappearing fast. She was laughing at the fact that Fred had somehow managed to get butterbeer foam above his eyebrow when George suddenly set down his glass with more force than he should have and McKenna saw him tense up. "What's _he _doing here?"

"Who?" McKenna asked, looking towards the door. She immediately saw who George was talking about. Ludo Bagman had just come in with a bunch of goblins.

"Why is he with goblins?" Fred asked. McKenna looked up to see his eyes narrowed at Bagman. Angelina and Oliver looked confused. Katie already knew about the problems the twins were having with Bagman and she was staring at him as well.

"What's going on with you two and Bagman?" Oliver asked.

"Nothing," Fred answered, his eyes still narrowed. "Come on, George."

"You're not going to go talk to him, are you?" McKenna asked.

"Of course we are," Fred said, standing up. George stood up as well and McKenna reached out to grab Fred's arm.

"Are you sure it's the best thing to do?"

"Kenna, we've tried talking to him every chance we've had. We've even written him a letter asking him about what's going on. He's not answering. We're going to try again."

"Look," she whispered, "maybe what happened was an accident."

"No, it wasn't," George answered, shaking his head. "We thought so at first too, but trust us, it wasn't a mistake."

"Come on, George," Fred said, gently pulling his arm away from McKenna. "Let's go talk to him."

"You're going to have to wait," Angelina said, pointing. "He's talking to Harry."

Fred stared angrily at Bagman before sinking back into his seat. George did the same but kept his eyes on Bagman as if watching for the second he became available.

"While you wait," Oliver began, "why don't you tell Angelina and I what's going on?"

"We won't tell a soul," Angelina promised when she saw the looks on Fred and George's faces.

George sighed and rubbed his eyes. "We made a bet with Bagman at the World Cup that Ireland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch. We bet all our savings and then won the bet but when Bagman paid us, we discovered the next day that the money was leprechaun gold. It was gone."

"Gone?" Angelina asked, her eyes widening.

"Gone," Fred said. "Like we said, we thought it was a mistake. We confronted him a few times, but he avoided us. We wrote him a letter, and he avoided us again."

"So we're just going to ask him for our money back," George said. "He'll give it back and we'll be happy. Who cares about the bet anymore?" He shrugged halfheartedly and took a sip of his butterbeer.

McKenna reached up and wiped the butterbeer off of his eyebrow. "It might be a good idea to wipe this off," she said.

"Thanks," Fred said, kissing her cheek.

"Look, he's done talking to Harry," George said, "Let's go talk to him."

"Want me to come with you?" Oliver asked. "I can intimidate him into giving you your money back. Or at least be there for moral support."

"Thanks, but it's okay," Fred answered, giving Oliver a tiny smile.

"We can handle it," George added as they both walked away.

"I hope this goes well," McKenna sighed.

"You know," Angelina said thoughtfully. "I think Lee told me that his dad was having money issues with Bagman as well."

"That's odd," McKenna said.

"Fred and George should talk to Lee about it, then," Oliver said. "Maybe he knows something."

"They didn't want to tell anyone," McKenna said. "Fred didn't even want to tell me."

"They've told all of us now," Oliver said. "Telling Lee won't hurt. He's their best friend."

"We can try to convince them," McKenna shrugged as she watched the twins approach Bagman. She didn't miss the nervous look that flickered across his face when he saw them.

"It's so like them," Oliver said, "to not want to tell anyone about this. They've always worked together on everything. It's like they're off in their own little world sometimes."

"Uh-oh, this doesn't look good," McKenna said, sitting up straighter. Bagman was frowning and pointing a finger at the twins while they stood scowling with their arms crossed over their chests. "I don't care what they say. I'm going over there." A determined look came over McKenna's face as she stood up and crossed the room.

"We just want our money back!" George was saying. "The money you gave us disappeared. We thought it was a mistake, but whenever we try to confront you, you run away."

"So all we're asking is that you give us our money back," Fred finished. "You don't have to pay us in your own money. Just give us ours back."

"I can't do that, boys," Bagman said. "How many times do I have to tell you that? I can't give you any money."

"It means nothing until you can give us a reason!" Fred answered.

"You're both too young to be gambling," Bagman said, shaking his head and glaring. "You aren't even of age yet."

"We will be in a little under three months," George argued.

"There are still a lot of things you can't understand," Bagman said. "The reason why I can't give you your money back is one of them. You shouldn't have been betting with me in the first place."

"You didn't seem to think along those lines when we actually made the bet," Fred said.

"No, I suppose not, but there are things I'm dealing with that don't concern you-,"

"It does!" George interrupted. "It's our money!"

"Yes, but I have other matters to deal with besides the bet we made. This conversation is over," Bagman snapped. "I can't give you your money back and you'll just have to accept that. Gambling is just that: a gamble. You might win money and you might lose money."

"But we were right about the match! We won fair and square!" Fred looked at Bagman in complete disbelief.

"If you'll excuse me," Bagman said, "I have more important things to tend to." He gestured towards the goblins waiting for him at a nearby table. "Goodbye." With that, he turned and hurried away.

"That no good, dirty rotten-," George began.

"Is everything alright?" McKenna interrupted.

Fred and George both turned around and saw her. Fred ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I'll see you later, okay?" He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek before heading out of the pub with George at his side. Without a glance back at the table where the rest of her friends still sat, McKenna followed them out the door.

"Wait a minute!" she yelled. Fred ignored her so she broke into a run to catch up to them. "Fred, I'm trying to talk to you!" When neither of the twins turned around, McKenna scowled and ran faster. She ran in front of them, cutting them off. "Talk to me," she said.

"It's none of your business," George said gently, shaking his head.

"What's to talk about? You already heard everything anyway," Fred muttered.

"It is my business," McKenna said. "And it's Katie's business too, George. You're going to have to explain this to her later."

"He doesn't have to explain anything," Fred practically snapped. "And neither do I." He brushed past McKenna and continued up to the castle. McKenna was getting angrier by the second. Fred wasn't going to get away with keeping secrets this time.

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!**


	23. Chapter 23

_"For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth." _**-Unknown**

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><p>McKenna bent down and gathered up a handful of snow before forming it into a perfectly round ball and flinging it at Fred. It hit him right in the back of the head and McKenna heard George make a stifled laughing sound.<p>

"What was that for?" Fred asked, spinning around.

"You can't keep doing this to me, Fred," McKenna said, the wind whipping her hair around her face. "I love you and you should be able to talk to me about what's going on."

"Did you hear that, Freddie?" George asked, smiling at Fred. "She loves you."

"I know that," Fred answered.

"Is that what you were discussing earlier when you were holding us all up?"

"Yes, but that doesn't matter now," Fred said quickly.

"It doesn't matter?" McKenna asked.

"No, of course it matters, but right now we're talking about a problem that's going on between me and George."

"I thought we discussed this," McKenna said. "No more secrets, Fred. You can't just promise me that and then shut me out. I want to help."

"It's not a secret," Fred said. "You heard all the stuff Bagman said and you can't help. Like I said, it's between me and George. There's nothing you can do." He turned to walk away again. George stared at McKenna, who looked back at him before turning her gaze to Fred's retreating back.

"He said he _can't_ give you the money," she said.

"What?" Fred asked perplexedly, turning around. McKenna stood where she was, the wind blowing harder and her hair whipping around her face even more wildly.

"Bagman didn't say that he _wouldn't_ give you the money. He said he couldn't. There's a difference, you know."

"Blimey, she's right," George said, looking at Fred with wide eyes. "Why didn't we pick up on that?"

McKenna kept staring at Fred, who was looking right back at her, stunned. "Kenna," he said quietly.

"So you think something's going on with Bagman?" George asked.

McKenna nodded. "That's probably what he meant when he said that he was dealing with things that don't concern you. Also, you might want to talk to Lee about this."

"Why?" Fred asked. "So the whole school can know that George and I are flat out broke and-,"

"Lee is your best friend," McKenna interrupted forcibly, shooting Fred a look. "And besides that, if you would let me finish, I just found out from Angelina that Lee's dad had trouble getting some money from Bagman as well. You might have known that already if you had just _talked_ to him."

"Well, he didn't want to share the news about his dad with us," Fred said stubbornly.

"Fred, are you really going to pull that now?" McKenna asked. "All I'm saying is that there's something going on with Bagman and Lee might know what's going on because I sure as hell don't. I'm just trying to help. I want you to get your money back. I want you to open that joke shop. I want you to _trust _me." When she finished talking, she stared at Fred, who was looking at her with an unreadable expression. Her gaze flicked to George, who was looking at her with a small smile. "Well, I guess that's it," she said. "I'll just go back to the Three Broomsticks and you can figure out what to do on your own if you're happier that way."

She turned around and had taken no more than three steps when she heard rapid footsteps behind her. Before she could do anything, Fred grabbed her arm and turned her around. Tangling one hand in her hair and sliding the other around her waist, he kissed her. It nearly took her breath away.

"Come with us to talk to Lee?" he asked when he pulled away.

McKenna smiled. "I'd love to."

* * *

><p>The day before the second task, McKenna was in the library, picking out a few books to help her with her Potions homework. She turned the corner and walked right into someone holding a stack of books, which fell to the ground with a thud.<p>

"Oh, hi, Harry," McKenna said, helping him pick up the books. "What are you doing here?"

"Researching for the second task," he muttered, standing up and dumping the books on a table. McKenna did the same with the books she had picked up. "I'm going to be here all afternoon and probably all night come to think of it. Ron and Hermione are off looking for more books. I'm not supposed to get outside help, but…." Harry shrugged as he trailed off. "Do you happen to know any ways to stay underwater for an hour?"

"That's what the second task is?" McKenna asked, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. Ron and Hermione came around the corner just then, each with a stack of books in their arms. McKenna gave them a wave and they nodded at her in greeting before setting their books down and starting to read them at once.

"Yeah," Harry muttered. "We've got to recover something lost in the lake."

"Like a lost shoe that fell off someone's foot?" McKenna asked with a tiny smirk. "Or extra bits of food that the giant squid steals from people who aren't looking?"

Harry shook his head. "No, something they took from each of us. We don't know what it is though. It sounded like it would be something personal."

"Sounds tough," McKenna said sympathetically, "and I don't know how to stay underwater for an hour. Sorry, though."

"I didn't think so," Harry said dejectedly.

"You know, I'm surprised you haven't found anything yet," McKenna said. "There has to be something somewhere. I'm sure you'll find the answer eventually."

"Yeah, well, I'm hoping 'eventually' is going to be before tomorrow morning."

"I hope so too," McKenna said with a small smile. "Well, if you need any extra help looking, I'll be in here somewhere. Fred and I are doing homework together.

"Study date," Ron coughed. McKenna whacked him lightly on the shoulder with the book she was holding. "It's true," he mumbled, "and it's about time you two started dating. I was sick of hearing him talk about you all the time."

McKenna blushed and turned back towards Harry. "Seriously, though, Fred and I would be glad to help if you need it."

"He's technically not supposed to be getting outside help," Hermione said with a sigh.

"And that's why you're flipping through books as if your life depended on it," McKenna laughed. Hermione shot her an annoyed look, but then smiled and let out a small laugh of her own.

McKenna waved goodbye and headed off to find Fred. He was sitting cross-legged in a chair by the windows. He had a book in his lap and he was flipping through it absentmindedly. "Hey," he said when he looked up.

"Hey," she answered, leaning down to give him a kiss before sitting in the chair across from him. She put the books down on the table next to her, took one and opened it. "Are you thinking about what Lee said?"

Fred nodded. "I know it's been over a month since we talked to him but I just can't get it all out of my head."

McKenna nodded sympathetically. Lee hadn't known much about Bagman except that he owed a lot of money to the goblins and, after the World Cup, a group of them had taken all of the gold he had in his pockets. That was why he couldn't pay Fred and George or even give them their money back. McKenna had been right in picking up on Bagman's word choice.

"How do you know this?" Fred had asked Lee.

"It's what my dad said," Lee had answered. "I don't know how he knows, but it's what he told me."

"I just ran into Harry, Hermione and Ron. Harry's researching for the second task," McKenna told Fred after a few moments of silence.

Fred looked up immediately. "Really? What is it?"

"He said they have to stay underwater in the lake for an hour. They have to find something that was taken from them. He said it was something personal."

"What, so they have people go through the champions' things and take personal items? That sounds a little weird if you ask me," Fred said, making a face.

McKenna shrugged. "I don't know. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. I told Harry if he needed any more help, we'd help him."

"I thought the champions weren't supposed to get any outside help," Fred smirked. "Breaking the rules, I see. I love it."

McKenna rolled her eyes and poked his leg with her foot. "I've broken some rules with you before."

"I know. I loved it then and I love it now."

McKenna smirked. "Get back to your book."

"I can't now that you're here," Fred said, setting his book aside and looking at her, his head tilted to one side and a smile on his face.

"You can and you will," she said, leaning over and grabbing the book Fred had discarded before tossing it at him. He caught it against his chest and frowned at her.

"You're a real downer," he said.

"It's a gift," she replied, relaxing into her chair and smirking at him.

* * *

><p>Later that night, McKenna and Fred left the library, tired from doing all of their homework. McKenna threw one last look at Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were still sitting in the same spot, looking exhausted.<p>

"Should we go and help, do you think?" McKenna asked.

"Nope, they didn't ask for it," Fred said quickly, grabbing McKenna's arm and dragging her towards the library exit.

"But I feel terrible," McKenna said.

"Harry isn't supposed to be getting outside help," Fred answered.

"But Ron and Hermione are-,"

"Look, I don't want to spend any more time in the library than needed," Fred said as they left the room and started down the hallway.

"Of course not," McKenna laughed.

"I'd rather spend more time in other places. With you." Fred smirked and stopped in the middle of the hallway. He took a step towards McKenna and smirked wider.

"Oh, really?" she answered, taking a step back and smirking as she did so.

"Yes, really," he said, taking another step towards her. McKenna took another step back. They continued walking in this way until McKenna felt her back hit the wall.

"Whoops," she said.

"Nowhere else to go," Fred said, shaking his head. He placed both of his hands on the wall and leaned down to kiss her. Just before their lips met, McKenna giggled and ducked under Fred's arm, running a little further down the hallway. Fred chased after her, yelling for her to come back.

Finally, he caught up to her and grabbed her waist, spinning her around. She giggled and turned to face him, stretching up to press a gentle kiss to his lips. He removed one hand from her waist and tangled his fingers in her hair, using his other hand to pull her closer.

"Do you hear that?" McKenna asked, pulling away.

Fred froze for a moment, listening. He could hear voices. "We're near McGonagall's office," he finally said. "She's probably in there with someone. No big deal." He leaned down to kiss her again, but she stopped him and gestured for him to be quiet.

Now that they were both listening intently, Fred and McKenna could hear McGonagall's voice clearly. "Alastor, I'd like you to go find Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley and bring them back here. If I'm not mistaken, I believe they are in the library with Mr. Potter. I've already sent a message to the Beauxbaton's carriage for Gabrielle Delacour and Professor Flitwick is bringing Miss Chang here as we speak."

Fred's arms were still around McKenna and she felt him tense up at the sound of his brother's name. "What does she need Ron for?" he asked.

McKenna shrugged and shook her head as they heard Professor McGonagall start to speak to Moody again. "I must say that this task makes me the most nervous. Professor Dumbledore has assured me that the champions' items will be safe, but-,"

"He's right," Moody said. "It's not like they're going to die. All they have to do is stay tethered underwater under the influence of a sleeping spell until the champions rescue them. It's the champions we should be more worried about. Especially Potter. I believe that's why he's in the library—he's looking up ways to stay underwater."

McKenna could imagine Professor McGonagall pursing her lips before she spoke again. "I wish I knew who put his name in that goblet."

"You believe someone put it in for him?" Moody asked.

"Yes, of course," McGonagall said. "Like you mentioned before, he's much too young to hoodwink the Age Line and the Goblet of Fire. He's also much too young to compete!"

Moody didn't answer right away. "Well, rules are rules. He has to compete, no matter who likes it or not."

"Yes, well, please go get Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said. "Dumbledore will be down soon to help me explain to them what will be happening."

Fred pulled McKenna into the shadow of a statue as they heard Moody's wooden leg thumping closer to the door of McGonagall's office. Once Moody had disappeared down the hallway, Fred turned towards McKenna. In the darkness, she could just make out his blue eyes, wide with alarm.

"Tell me again what Harry told you about the second task," he said urgently.

"Uh, he said they had to retrieve something lost in the lake; something that was taken from them. He said it sounded like it would be something personal."

"Ron," Fred breathed out, "they're taking Ron."

"What?" McKenna asked.

"They're taking _people_ as the items the champions have to find in the lake. They'll be under a sleeping spell!"

"Okay, so McGonagall asked for Ron, Hermione, Cho Chang and a girl named Gabrielle Delacour," McKenna said.

"Gabrielle must be related to Fleur somehow," Fred said, beginning to count off on his fingers. He paused as he thought. "Cho Chang's dating Cedric…"

"Hermione went to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum," McKenna said, suddenly feeling nervous as she realized what Fred had said was true.

"And Ron's Harry's best friend," Fred finished. "They're going to take my younger brother and stick him underwater." He suddenly looked angry. "McGonagall's nervous. Didn't you hear her? She's worried that it's too dangerous. They're not going to put my brother in danger. Not on my watch." He turned and began walking towards McGonagall's office.

"Wait, Fred." McKenna hurried after him and grabbed his arm. "She said Dumbledore doesn't think there's anything to worry about." It was a sorry attempt to keep Fred from barging into McGonagall's office. She wasn't even actually sure if she believed it. Keeping people underwater definitely didn't seem like a good thing to her. But on the other hand, she also wanted to trust McGonagall and Dumbledore.

"I don't want my brother underwater. I don't want him to be a part of these tasks. Who knows what's in that lake? You know what? Now I know how you felt when I wanted to enter."

McKenna took his hand and noticed he was shaking slightly. She looked up at him and rested her other hand on his cheek. "You're so worried for him," she said with a smile.

"Of course," Fred whispered. "He's my brother. I wouldn't be able to stand it if he got hurt because of a stupid tournament. George and I teasing and pranking him is one thing, but this is entirely different."

"You've seen the light," McKenna said, smiling.

Fred smiled briefly and rested his forehead against hers, brushing one hand through her hair. "I've got to go stop this," he said, pulling away and turning for McGonagall's office again.

"You won't be able to," McKenna said, tugging on his arm.

"I have to," Fred said. He was stronger than her and ultimately ended up dragging her towards the office instead of her pulling him away.

"Mr. Weasley? Miss Collins?"

The voice made Fred stop in his tracks and McKenna bumped into him at the sudden halt.

"Professor Dumbledore," Fred said.

"Yes, that's me," Dumbledore said pleasantly. "You seem surprised to see me."

"Well, we are, but we knew you were coming," Fred said.

"You did?"

"We overheard Professor McGonagall," McKenna explained, "and we figured out what the champions are going to have to find in the lake tomorrow."

"Ah, yes, quite an interesting twist, isn't it?" Dumbledore said. "Using real people makes the task more…real." Dumbledore smiled down at them.

"But my brother-," Fred began.

"—should be perfectly fine," Dumbledore said. "You see, I will be putting a charm on all four…hostages, for lack of a better term so that they will be completely safe underwater and they will not wake up until they have been rescued and brought above water. As for the underwater creatures, the merpeople should keep them away. They'll be guarding the hostages."

"The merpeople?" McKenna repeated.

"Oh, yes," Dumbledore said. "They are very nice. Terrifying when they want to be, but for the most part very nice"

"And you're sure the spell will work?" Fred asked.

"Positive," Dumbledore assured him. "You see, Mr. Weasley, as I said before, I will be putting the charm on them and I have had many, many years of magical experience. Although, I am flattered by your skepticism. It implies that you think I am younger than I really am."

"I don't think you look a day over thirty, sir," Fred said with a small smile.

"Thirty!" Dumbledore chuckled. "My, you certainly _are_ funny, but thank you. I would have even settled for a hundred. Goodnight." With that, he gave them one last smile and disappeared into McGonagall's office.

"A hundred?" McKenna whispered as she and Fred headed back to the common room. "Just how old_ is_ Dumbledore?"

"No idea," Fred shrugged, "but he doesn't really seem that old, you know? There's something about him that's, well, young."

"Must be the beard," McKenna said, causing both her and Fred to burst into laughter. Once the laughter died down, McKenna noticed Fred's face become serious again.

"You're worrying again, aren't you?" she asked. It was odd, seeing Fred's worry etched so plainly on his face. He had always been good at hiding it and covering up his nerves with jokes.

"Yeah," he answered. "My brother's going to be taken underwater. And Hermione's like my sister. I didn't like the word Dumbledore used. He called them hostages."

"He only said that because he couldn't think of a better word."

"Still, I don't like it," Fred said, shaking his head. "And Harry has to actually go down there and rescue them. What if he can't do it?"

"I think he can," McKenna said.

"He's still in the—that's it!" Fred said, stopping suddenly.

"What's it?" McKenna asked.

"He's still in the library. We're going back to help him." Fred grabbed her arm and pulled her back in the opposite direction.

"I thought you didn't want to spend any more time than necessary in the library," McKenna laughed.

"Well, I've changed my mind," Fred declared.

"Wait." McKenna tugged on his arm and pulled him to a stop. She stepped closer, grabbed his tie and gently pulled him forward, kissing him with as much force as she could.

"What was that for?" Fred asked, sounding a little dazed as she pulled away.

"You're cute when you're so concerned. You should show that side of you more often." With a wink, she set off down the hallway, leaving a still dazed Fred to catch up to her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading and really, don't forget to review! It really helps to know what everyone thinks of the story and I appreciate every single one I get. :)**


	24. Chapter 24

_"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone."_** -Ronald Reagan**

* * *

><p>"It's hopeless," McKenna groaned, resting her forehead on the table she was sitting at. "I think I was wrong before when I said there had to be something somewhere to help you, Harry. There's absolutely nothing." It was sometime in the early hours of the morning and McKenna was exhausted. She had thought they would have found something by now.<p>

Harry rubbed his eyes. "I know. We must have looked through every book in the library."

"Hardly," Fred snorted. "That would take us days."

"I can't concentrate anymore," McKenna said. Her head was still resting on the table. "I just spent the last five minutes staring at a diagram illustrating how to grow your nose hair into ringlets while trying to keep my dinner down. Really, who on earth would want to make their nose hair grow into _ringlets_?"

"I wouldn't mind," Fred said, shrugging one shoulder and smirking. "It would be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

"I'd break up with you," McKenna said, glaring at him.

"Wow, that's harsh," Fred said. "I mean, I don't know about you, but I don't consider nose hair ringlets to be a reason to break up with someone."

"Oh, so if I grew some, you'd be perfectly fine with it?" McKenna answered. "Good to know."

"Can you tell me one thing?" Harry asked before Fred could answer. He slammed the book in front of him shut and looked up.

"Yeah, sure," Fred answered, leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms above his head.

"Why did you two come tearing in here earlier like you were being chased by a fire-breathing dragon?"

"Yeah, because you know what that looks like, don't you?" Fred smirked.

"Ha ha," Harry said. "Seriously, you were in a hurry. You really didn't even have to come help me."

McKenna finally raised her head and looked at Fred. He looked back at her and she knew he was also debating whether or not they should tell Harry what they knew.

"We thought you needed all the help you could get," McKenna finally said, "even if it's not allowed."

"Yeah, this task sounds rough, mate," Fred said.

"Wow, if even Fred Weasley is telling me the task sounds rough then I've got something to worry about, don't I?" Harry gave them a small smile and opened another book.

"I just don't see how we can't find anything in here," McKenna huffed.

"You sound like Hermione," Harry said. "She kept telling me that the library has never failed her and that there had to be something."

"That sounds like her," Fred laughed.

"Hey, Harry," a voice said from off to the side.

"Neville!" Harry said as they all jumped. "Where did you come from?"

"The stork brought him," Fred joked, nudging McKenna, who smiled, remembering Fred's joke at the beginning of the year about still believing the stork brought babies.

"I was just putting away books over in the next aisle and I heard your voice," Neville said.

"Oh, that's nice," Harry muttered, going back to his books.

"What's that book, Neville?" McKenna asked, gesturing to the book in his hand.

"Oh, Professor Moody gave it to me," Neville said, holding it up. "It's all about plants. Apparently, Professor Sprout told Moody that I was good at Herbology. This book has all kinds of plants in it, some of them I've never even heard of-,"

"Sorry, Neville," Harry interrupted, "but I'm not really interested in plants right now. Not unless there's a Tibetan Turnip that can help me breathe underwater for an hour."

"You'll have to excuse him," Fred said. "The second task is sounding really difficult and The Boy Who Lived is trying to figure out how to keep his title."

Harry sent Fred a look, but Fred just smirked. McKenna smacked Fred's arm and sent him a look as well. Neville, however, brightened. "Well, I don't know about a turnip, but there's always gillyweed."

"Gillyweed? What in the name of Merlin's beard is that?" Fred asked.

"It's a plant," Neville said.

"We'd gathered as much," Fred mumbled.

"It'll help me to stay underwater for an hour?" Harry asked, his face hopeful.

"It should. There are some debates about fresh water versus salt water, but-,"

"Doesn't matter, I'm desperate," Harry said.

"Okay, well, mind you, you'll have to get some from Professor Snape's storage room, but at least you can get some," Neville said.

"We'll go get it," Fred said, standing and pulling McKenna to her feet.

"I can-," Harry began, but Fred held up a hand.

"I have been sitting down for hours on end. If I don't move my legs soon, they're going to have to be amputated."

"How do you think I feel?" Harry asked.

"Start putting away your books," Fred shrugged. "We'll be right back with the gillyweed. It might be faster if I went anyway. I've broken into Snape's storage room plenty of times."

"What for?" Harry asked, sounding surprised. "Actually, forget it, just go. And hurry, the task is in about an hour."

"Come on." Fred pulled McKenna from the room and they quickly headed for Snape's office.

"You don't think he'll be in there, do you?" McKenna asked.

Fred shrugged. "Doubt it. It's seven in the morning on a Saturday. If he is in there, though, you can distract him."

"Me?" McKenna gasped.

"Yeah, you can lure him out of the room somehow."

"Why me?" she asked.

"Because you're more believable," Fred answered.

"Okay, but hold on," McKenna said. She stopped in her tracks and pointed her wand at the floor, shooting a stream of water onto the floor before turning it green. "Do you still have that empty vial that was in your pocket the other day?" She hadn't even questioned Fred when he had pulled out vial the other day while looking for a quill. It was normal for him and George to have multiple random items in their pockets.

Fred reached into his pocket and pulled out the vial, placing it into McKenna's outstretched hand. "I don't-,"

"It's part of the plan," she said, putting the vial on its side next to the puddle. "Okay, let's go. If it turns out that Snape isn't in his office, we can clean this up on our way back. It'll take two seconds."

"Brilliant," Fred said as they started walking again. They reached Snape's office and slowed to a stop. The door was open a crack and Fred peeked inside. He let out a curse and moved away. "He's in there."

McKenna sighed and smoothed down the front of her shirt. "Well, here goes nothing, I suppose."

"Wait," Fred said. McKenna turned as he grabbed her arm. He smiled down at her and rubbed a thumb over her cheek. "Good luck." He leaned down and quickly kissed her. "I'll be hiding behind that tapestry over there and when Snape's out of the room, I'll help you look for the gillyweed."

McKenna nodded before turning and pushing open the office door. Professor Snape looked up. "What are you doing here, Miss Collins?" he sighed. He sounded frustrated as if she had interrupted something important.

"I just thought I'd tell you there's something gross on the floor one hallway over."

"I believe Mr. Filch is in charge of cleaning up messes in the hallways."

"I know, but it looks like spilled potion," McKenna said. "I'm not sure what it is and I don't want to handle it. I'm sure Mr. Filch is even less capable of handling it than I am." She smiled innocently and shrugged. "I thought you would be the best person to come to."

Snape stared at her expressionless for a moment before he set down his quill and stood up. He kept staring at her as he headed for the door. McKenna followed him and when she had reached the doorway, she headed in the opposite direction, looking over her shoulder to keep an eye on Snape. As soon as he had turned the corner, she spun on her heels and ran for his office.

"Whoa, slow down," Fred's voice hissed from behind her.

"Sorry," she said, stopping at the doorway. Fred caught up to her and they both hurried into the storage room. They each stood at opposite ends of the rows of shelves and started scanning the labeled boxes and jars of ingredients.

"Gillyweed, gillyweed," Fred muttered, scanning the jars on the top shelf.

"There it is," McKenna gasped, pointing to a jar on the top shelf on her side that was filled with clumps of slimy, greenish-brown objects. "I can't reach it."

"But luckily, I can," Fred smirked, coming over and grabbing the jar. He twisted it open and grabbed a piece of gillyweed. He handed it to McKenna, who began shifting it from one hand to the other as he closed the jar.

"This is so gross. How is Harry going to eat this?"

"He's going to put it in his mouth and chew, holding his nose if he has to," Fred said. "It's the only chance we've got."

"Okay, well let's go," McKenna said. "Put the jar back exactly as you found it."

Fred was careful to do as she said before taking her hand. Together, they ran from the room. McKenna stuck the gillyweed in her pocket and it was lucky that she did because they ran into Snape as they dashed around the corner.

"Miss Collins," he said, looking down his nose at them. "Funny that you're going this way when I was sure you went the other way after leaving my office."

"I was going to meet with Fred. Now we're going to the library."

"So early on a Saturday? And the day of the second task, too, I might add."

"That's why we're going early," McKenna said easily. "There's still work to get done even if there's a tournament going on."

Snape didn't answer right away. "Were you aware that the spilled potion you mentioned was simply colored water?"

"No, I had no idea. That's why I asked you to take a look at it. Better safe than sorry, isn't it?"

"In some cases," Snape said, looking as if he wished the potion had been explosive and blown up in McKenna's face.

Fred looked as if he was going to react, but McKenna elbowed him. She didn't need him to make this drag on any longer or earn them a detention.

"Well, sorry for wasting your time, then," she said. With that, she grabbed Fred's hand and dragged him away before Snape could say another word. "Fred, stop looking over your shoulder."

"'In some cases'," Fred mimicked in a very close imitation of Snape. "Honestly, _he_ should be stuck in the lake and left there."

"Relax, Freddie," McKenna said, but she couldn't help but smile at Fred's behavior.

When they finally reached the library, they found that Neville had gone and Harry had gotten half of his books put away before he had fallen asleep with his head on the table.

"Poor Harry," McKenna said. "It's probably not good that he got no sleep last night."

"Well, we're going to have to wake him," Fred said, looking as if he didn't want to disturb Harry either.

However, before either of them could move, something small pushed in between them, nearly sending them into bookshelves. "Harry Potter must wake up!" squeaked a voice. "Harry Potter must rescue his Wheezy!"

"Dobby?" Fred asked, recognizing the elf from his many trips to the kitchens.

"Oh, hello, Wheezy twin," Dobby said. He turned away from Harry and bowed. "And Miss Kenna, too."

"What are you doing here, Dobby?" McKenna asked.

"Dobby needs to wake up Harry Potter!" With that, the elf turned back to Harry, climbed up on the table and began shaking Harry's shoulder. "Wake up, Harry Potter!"

Harry sat up with a start and jumped when he saw Dobby. "Dobby, what are you doing here?" he asked groggily.

"Harry Potter must save his Wheezy!" Dobby said.

"My what?" Harry asked.

"His friend Wheezy! The same one that gave Dobby this sweater!"

"Ron gave you a sweater?" Fred asked, looking amused.

"Oh, yes, Dobby is loving his new sweater. Dobby loves maroon!"

"Wait, Ron?" Harry asked. "They've got Ron?"

"Yes, it is the thing Harry Potter will miss the most!" Dobby squeaked. "The second task is starting shortly and Harry Potter must be there to save his Wheezy!"

Harry looked at his watch and his eyes widened. "I have to get down there!" He stood up and made a beeline for the door.

"Wait, here," McKenna said, tossing the gillyweed at him. He caught it and wrinkled his nose.

"_This_ is gillyweed?"

McKenna nodded and looked at him sympathetically. "Looks like you're going to have to hold your nose."

"Thanks, really," Harry said before turning and running out of the room.

"That explains why Ron wasn't wearing his sweater on Christmas," Fred said with a laugh.

"He gave it to Dobby for Christmas instead!" Dobby said happily, showing off the sweater that hung almost to his feet.

"You know, maroon's a good color for you," Fred said. "If you wanted, though, I can charm that 'R' into a 'D'."

"Oh, no, Dobby is proud of the letter 'R'. I am proud to wear the first initial of such a kind and intelligent wizard."

Fred snorted in laughter. "If that's the case, then why don't I change it to an 'F'?"

"Dobby is fond of Wheezy twin's younger brother," the elf said proudly. "Now, Dobby must get back to the kitchens or else I'll have to shut my ears in the oven door again for leaving."

"I'm sure Dumbledore doesn't mind if you-,"

"Oh no, but Dobby will mind," Dobby squeaked. "Goodbye Miss Kenna and Wheezy twin."

"I'll never understand him." Fred shook his head as he headed for the door.

"Neither will I, but come on, we've got a second task to watch," McKenna said.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading!**


	25. Chapter 25

_"Family is the most important thing in the world." _**-Princess Diana**

* * *

><p>"Where have you two been all night?" George asked once he had caught up to Fred and McKenna halfway to the lake.<p>

"The library," McKenna shrugged. "We told you that before we headed over there in the afternoon."

"Yeah and I was already skeptical when you told me that was where you were going, but do you really expect me to believe you were there all _night_?"

"Yes," Fred said, rubbing his eyes. He was exhausted and his eyes still hurt from the lack of sleep and from skimming through books all night.

"We were," McKenna insisted.

"You're sure?" George teased. "You weren't somewhere else, like a nice cozy broom cupboard for instance?"

"George," McKenna scolded, swatting him. George laughed and jumped away, but then his smile faded.

"Okay, I can tell something's going on. You two aren't laughing like you usually would be right now."

"We're exhausted," McKenna said.

"Okay, what aren't you telling me?" George asked. "Fred, I know you better than anyone. If you really were in the library, then there has to be a reason for you to be there all night."

"Okay," Fred answered. "Well, Kenna and I were on our way back at around ten, but then we overheard McGonagall talking to Moody about the second task. They took Ron."

"Who took Ron?" George stopped in his tracks and looked confused and slightly surprised.

"I don't know. McGonagall and Dumbledore." Fred waved his hand dismissively.

"The library's made you loopy," George said with a slight smile. "I mean, I never pegged McGonagall and Dumbledore as kidnappers."

"They also have Cho Chang, Hermione, and someone related to Fleur. I'm guessing her sister," McKenna said. "It's for the second task."

George's smile faded. "You're serious."

"Completely," Fred answered.

"What do they need them to do?" George asked.

"They don't have to do much of anything," Fred sighed. "Just float underwater until the champions rescue them."

"How did you figure this out?"

McKenna and Fred took turns explaining to George what had happened over the course of the night, starting with McKenna running into Harry in the library, all the way to Dobby making sure Harry got to the task on time.

George smirked when they finished. "Don't tell mum Dobby likes the sweater or else she'll have to start knitting him one every Christmas as well."

Fred rolled his eyes. "We don't need her putting any more energy into sweaters. As much as I love them, I don't want her to start slacking off on Christmas dinner."

"Fred," McKenna scolded. "Your mother works hard."

"I know she does," Fred said. "She knits more sweaters than I can count and still manages to-,"

"You can't count to nine?"

"What?" Fred blinked a few times, thrown off track by the comment.

"Your mum makes nine sweaters. One for you and each of your siblings, plus one for Harry and one for your dad. She makes nine sweaters and you said she makes more sweaters than you can count. I'm shocked that you can't count that high." She smirked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Fred's always been the dumber twin," George said.

"I was exaggerating when I said she knits more sweaters than I can count. It was an expression!" Fred said, frowning in frustration.

"Relax, I was teasing," McKenna laughed.

"Sorry," Fred muttered. "The lack of sleep's getting to me."

"I got a full eight hours, which I believe is a healthy amount of rest for someone my age," George said, grinning. "That's why I woke up looking positively stunning."

"Shut up," McKenna and Fred said together.

"Sorry, touchy subject I guess," George shrugged. "So, do you think Harry's prepared enough for the task?"

"I hope so," McKenna said. "Everything happened so fast this morning. We went from having nothing to finding the answer in a matter of seconds."

"All thanks to Neville, really," Fred said as they reached the dock. The boats the first years used that were charmed to move on their own were lined up for students to use to get to the stands in the middle of the lake.

"I just hope he was right about that gillyweed," George said. The three of them climbed into a boat and it began to move.

"Neville knows his stuff," McKenna said, sounding more confident than she felt. "Harry will be fine. Ron will be fine. Everyone will be fine."

* * *

><p>"Oh, this is ridiculous," McKenna said, pacing back and forth in the stands. The champions had exactly one hour to recover their lost item, or person, rather, from the lake. Time had just run out a few minutes ago and so far only Cedric had successfully saved Cho Chang and he had only gotten back about five seconds ago. Fleur had gotten attacked by grindylows about fifteen minutes in and had to be taken from the cold water. Now she was sitting on the dock, shivering even though she was wrapped in a large towel.<p>

"Kenna looks a little nervous," Fred observed, raising his eyebrows at George.

"Of course I'm nervous! I can't see what's going on and it's killing me. You were certainly nervous last night. Where did all of that go, huh?" She poked Fred in the chest before turning to pace again, but Fred grabbed her arm and turned her to face him while pulling her closer.

"I'm nervous as hell," he said quietly, "but my way of dealing with it is acting like everything's fine."

McKenna nodded. "I've noticed that you do that, actually."

Fred smiled slightly. "Okay, as long as you know."

There was a splash from the lake and McKenna whirled around as Fred let go of her and craned his neck to see better. Beside him, George was doing the same.

"It's Krum," McKenna said, frowning.

"Well, it looks like Harry didn't win this round," George said. He tried to smile, but he looked slightly pale.

"Who cares about winning? I just wonder about the gillyweed wearing off. I mean, Neville didn't exactly tell us much. I expect he talked to Harry after we left to go get it, but whatever the stuff does, it has to wear off eventually."

"I didn't even think about that," Fred said. "Do you think it wore off and Harry drowned?"

"Don't even say that," McKenna squeaked.

"I've killed him." Neville came tearing down the stands before skidding to a stop in front of McKenna and the twins. He looked quite panicked as he began rambling. "Harry hasn't come up yet and it's been an hour. I told him there were some debates of the effects of gillyweed in saltwater versus fresh water, but I didn't think it would be much of a problem. Or maybe it's worn off! I've killed him, I've killed Harry Potter."

"Well, look at it this way, Neville," Fred said, smiling warily, "You-Know-Who will be thrilled."

"Or upset that he didn't get to do it or at least be here to see it happen," George said. "It depends on how you want to look at it."

Neville's face grew even paler and he was about to say something more when there was a huge cheer from the crowd.

"It's Harry!" George said, looking towards the lake.

"And he's got Ron," Fred continued.

"And some girl. It must be Fleur's hostage. I'm definitely thinking it's her sister," George concluded.

"He saved them both?" McKenna asked. "Why?"

"Because he's Harry," Fred said. "He probably didn't think they were safe down there."

"You can't blame him," Neville said. "There are all sorts of weird creatures in the lake."

"Come on," Fred said. He took McKenna's hand and pulled her forward, George right behind them so that they could hear Dumbledore announce the points each champion would receive.

The judges were in a huddle when they finally made it to the front. Harry was surrounded by Ron, Hermione and Fleur, who were all wrapped in towels.

"You saved my seester!" Fleur was saying to Harry. "Even though she was not yours to save!"

"Yeah," Harry said, "that's what I did."

Fleur kissed Harry once on each cheek before turning to Ron. "And you helped!"

"Uh, yeah," Ron said, nodding eagerly. "I helped."

Fleur kissed Ron on each cheek as well before hurrying away. Ron turned a faint pink and Hermione snorted.

"So that's why you did it, Harry," Fred said, stepping forward.

"Did what?" Harry asked, shivering and wrapping his towel more tightly around him.

"You saved Gabrielle so you could get a kiss from Fleur. Don't worry, your secret's safe with us."

"I suppose you would have done the same thing, huh?" McKenna asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No," Fred said, grinning, "of course not."

"And Ron, you helped, did you?" George asked. "How fantastic it must be to have the talent to rescue a hostage while sleeping. Tell us, did you snore at the underwater creatures to ward them off?"

"Shut up," Ron muttered.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Dumbledore finally said, his voice magically magnified, "we have reached our decision. We have been told by the mer-people exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions as follows. Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."

"I deserved zero," Fleur said from nearby.

"Cedric Diggory," Dumbledore continued, "who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him forty-seven points."

"How much outside of the time limit was _I_? Harry asked. "If Cedric was one minute outside…"

"Viktor Krum," Dumbledore said before anyone had a chance to answer Harry's question, "used an incomplete form of Transfiguration which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points. Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect. He returned last and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own."

"Mental," George muttered, nudging Harry and smirking.

"Most of the judges feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However, Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points.

Karkaroff looked completely outraged, but kept his mouth shut as a cheer erupted throughout the stands.

"There you go, Harry!" Ron yelled. "You weren't being thick after all. You were showing moral fiber!"

"Yeah, well done, moral fiber," Fred said.

"Even when you go wrong it goes right," Ron said in disbelief.

"Don't be so surprised, Ron," George said as Dumbledore started speaking again.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

"I'm glad that's over, aren't you?" McKenna asked, swinging Fred's hand as they walked up to the castle after taking the boats back across the lake.

"Definitely," Fred agreed with a yawn. "All of this excitement has made me tired."

"It's because you pulled an all-nighter in the library."

"Yeah and it's reminded me why I don't pull those in the first place. They're terrible. I'm never doing that again."

"I got a full eight hours of sleep," George said reminded them with a grin.

"Shut up, George," McKenna and Fred said together as George laughed.


	26. Chapter 26

_"If I'd observed all the rules, I'd never have gotten anywhere." _**-Marilyn Monroe**

* * *

><p>"Look, there's Bagman," Fred said, pointing. It was the end of May and Fred was with George on a trip to Hogsmeade. McKenna was off with Katie and Angelina and they were all supposed to be meeting up later. Fred and George were planning to use the time to go to Zonko's for inspiration for future products that they might invent themselves one day.<p>

"And he's with goblins again," George added.

"Do we have time to follow him?" Fred asked.

George glanced at his watch. "We have an hour."

"Let's go," Fred said, making up his mind quickly. He and George quickly made their way after Bagman and the goblins. They stopped at the far end of Hogsmeade, near the Shrieking Shack, where there were rarely any people.

"Behind here," George said, gesturing to a couple of nearby trees. They each hid behind one before listening in to the conversation.

"It was a close one, Ludo," one of the goblins said. "Potter nearly came in third place this time."

"It's not my fault," Bagman snapped. "I offered him help. Of course, he didn't need it. He would have come in first had he not acted so noble and gone and saved the Delacour girl's sister! Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore. Thankfully, the judges saw it as showing 'moral fiber' as opposed to being thick."

"Yes, but he's still tied with Cedric Diggory, is he not?" one goblin asked.

"Yes, he is, but-,"

"You bet that Potter would win the entire thing himself. Drawing with Cedric Diggory does not count. Potter has to win the third task if you want to win the bet. He and he alone must reach that Triwizard Cup first if you want to win." When there was silence, the goblin continued. "You do realize that the fate of most of your debt with us is in the hands of a fourteen year old boy."

"He'll win," Bagman said. "I was sure of it when I made the bet and I'm sure of it now. I've offered him help before every task. He's declined each time, of course, but he's done well."

"Like we discussed a few minutes ago, he got through this task by the skin of his teeth and received the points he did as a result of sheer dumb luck," a goblin said. "For your sake, he better make it through the last task and get to that Triwizard Cup before anybody else."

"He will," Bagman assured them, but he didn't sound all that sure anymore.

Fred and George concealed themselves further behind the trees as Bagman and the goblins headed back towards Hogsmeade. When they were completely out of earshot, Fred looked at George with wide eyes. "He's betting on Harry! That's how he's trying to pay off the goblins!"

"He must be really desperate," George said. "Those goblins can play dirty."

"Yeah, and apparently so can Bagman," Fred answered.

* * *

><p>Fred sat on the couch in front of the fire, his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands as he thought. He and George were deciding what to do about Bagman. It had been about four months since the confrontation in the Three Broomsticks but they still weren't giving up. At least not yet. Not when there was still one more option.<p>

"We're going to have to do it, George," Fred finally said. "If we want out money back, we're going to have to play as dirty as he is."

"He doesn't have any money to give us, though. He's still trying to pay off his debt to the goblins," George said.

"Exactly. By betting on Harry. The Ministry sure won't like what he's done. Betting with the goblins is already tricky enough to do, and he's even betting on Harry and offering him help."

"We can get in a lot of trouble by blackmailing him, though," George said.

"He can get in trouble too," Fred answered.

"Yeah, but-,"

"Do you want our money back or not?" Fred asked. "This is the only way at this point. If we want him to pay us as soon as he's able to, we need to do it." He looked over at George, who stared back before nodding.

"Okay, let's do it."

* * *

><p>"What's Bagman doing here?" McKenna asked Angelina. They were sitting outside on the front steps, enjoying the nice weather and Bagman had just walked by.<p>

Angelina shrugged, but didn't answer. Instead, it was another voice that did.

"He's here to show the champions what the third task is." Harry took a seat on the steps next to McKenna, resting his chin in his hands. Ron and Hermione took seats on the step below him. "We find out what it is tonight," Harry continued.

"Any guesses about what it could be?" Angelina asked, leaning forward.

"None," Harry answered. "Although I'm sure Bagman will be asking if he can help me." He rolled his eyes.

"He's been offering to help you?" McKenna asked.

"Yeah, before the first two tasks he made sure I knew what I was doing and asked if I needed anything."

"That's odd," McKenna said, frowning.

"Very," Hermione agreed. "He of all people shouldn't be offering Harry help. If he's going to do it, though, the least he could do is offer to help _all_ the champions."

"Which he isn't," Harry muttered.

"You know, Harry, you could probably win this thing on your own anyway," Angelina said.

Harry snorted. "It'll be a miracle if I win."

"Not really," McKenna said.

"Yeah, I'll bet anything that you'll win," Ron chimed in.

"Hold on," McKenna said suddenly. "I wonder…"

"Wonder what?" Harry asked.

"I have to go. I don't know if I'm right, but –well, we'll find out soon enough. I have to go. See you later." With that, she gathered her things and dashed away. She had just gotten an idea about how Bagman might be repaying the goblins.

* * *

><p>"Fred, George, I have to tell you something."<p>

Fred turned at the sound of McKenna's voice and George did the same. They were standing in the common room, just about to walk out of the portrait hole. "What is it?" Fred asked, throwing his arm around McKenna's shoulders and kissing her temple.

"Did you know that Bagman's been offering Harry help in the tournament? Every chance he gets he's been asking if Harry's all set with everything. That's what he was asking him in the Three Broomsticks before the second task. He needs money badly, so do you think he bet with the goblins that Harry will win the tournament?"

"How did you figure that out?" George asked, his mouth dropping.

"I was right?" McKenna asked in surprise. "And how do _you_ know what Bagman was doing?"

"We tailed him yesterday," Fred said. "He was in Hogsmeade meeting with the goblins again. We heard him say that he's betting everything on Harry. If Harry wins, he'll be able to pay the goblins off."

"And if Harry doesn't win?" McKenna asked.

"Well, Bagman's in deep trouble, then," George said.

"So, what's your next move?" McKenna asked.

"Well, it's not the best…" Fred began, glancing at George.

"It's quite low, actually. I'm not too fond of the idea myself, and that's saying something," George continued.

"We've decided to blackmail him," Fred concluded.

"Blackmail?" McKenna asked.

"Yeah," Fred answered slowly. "The Ministry won't like it that Bagman's betting on Harry and offering him help to pay back goblins. Harry's not even supposed to be getting help."

"We helped him," McKenna said quietly, stepping out from under the weight of Fred's arm that had still been around her shoulders.

"That's different," he said defiantly. "Bagman works at the Ministry. He can get in more trouble."

"Look, Kenna," George said gently. "We know it's not the best idea-,"

"No, it's not," she snapped, crossing her arms.

"It's the only chance we've got," Fred retaliated, crossing his own arms.

McKenna's glare slipped off her face and she spoke quietly. "I know." She reached out and took Fred's hand, giving it a squeeze. "It's just that Bagman works for the Ministry. So, yes, he can get in more trouble, but he also has more power over you. He could—if you make him mad—I don't know. It makes me nervous for you," she stuttered out.

"He works for the Department of Magical Games and Sports," Fred snorted. "What can he do?"

"He probably has connections. Mr. Crouch, for example."

"Mr. Crouch is too sick to do anything," George said.

"How do you-?"

"Haven't you noticed he hasn't been coming for the tournament? Percy's been taking his place."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean-,"

"We asked Percy what was going on," Fred interrupted. "He gave us a pretty rude and vague answer about Mr. Crouch feeling too ill to judge the tournament. I don't even think he's been going in to work."

George shook his head sadly. "Percy's been acting like even more of a pompous prat ever since he started working for the Ministry," he added.

"Don't say that," McKenna whispered.

"It's true," Fred said. "I hate to admit it, but the Ministry's almost changed him."

After a pause, McKenna spoke again. "So, how are you going to do this? Blackmail Bagman, I mean."

Another letter, I guess," Fred shrugged. "The next time we can be sure we'll see him is on June 24th for the last task and we don't want to wait that long."

McKenna nodded. "Okay," she said, "you should do what you have to do. I'll stand behind you every step of the way."

Fred pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head. "Thanks for understanding."

"Even if I still don't like the idea that much?" she asked.

"Even then," Fred answered with a smile. "I love you.'

"I love you, too," she whispered pulling back from the hug so that she could press a kiss to his lips.

"You know," George said, "you two should really consider getting a room."

"We are in a room, George," McKenna giggled.

"Yeah, maybe _you _should be the one to _leave_ the room," Fred added, managing to keep a straight face.

"Rude," George muttered as Fred and McKenna laughed.

* * *

><p>"So, finally a waking moment when you aren't with Fred." Cody sat down beside McKenna in the common room and smirked at her.<p>

"I don't spend _all_ my time with him," McKenna argued. "I've spent time with my friends. I am capable of managing my time."

"Sure." Cody's voice was full of sarcasm.

"It's true," she said, swatting her brother.

"Maybe I miss you," Cody said with an exaggerated pout.

"You miss me?" McKenna asked, playing along and reaching out to give her brother a huge hug.

"Back off," he said, prying her arms away. "I don't miss you that much."

McKenna sighed. "It was worth a try."

"You know, it's about time you and Fred got together. I like him a whole lot better than Oliver."

"Okay," McKenna said, turning back to her homework and trying to keep from laughing. "That's nice."

"I hated Oliver," Cody said.

"Hey, be nice," she said.

"How can you not hate him?"

"I'm with Fred now. It doesn't matter what he did anymore. Plus, Angelina's dating him now. I have to like him, or at least pretend to."

"But you're not pretending."

"No, not really."

"Why can't you just pretend?"

"Because I don't want to do that," she said. "Everything's just easier if we get along for real. I'm really just too…_tired_ to hate him. I'm tired of drama."

Cody snorted. "I hate him enough for both of us for how he treated you."

"Hate is a strong word," McKenna laughed.

"Fine, I strongly dislike him," Cody said.

"I think Fred does too," McKenna said. "Somewhat, anyway." She gave a small shrug.

"You're really not upset?"

She shrugged again. "Not really. I was over the summer, but the second time around I wasn't angry. Plus, if I was angry it would only complicate things with Angelina. It's better to just move on. It's been months and it's over now."

"Where is Fred by the way?" Cody asked.

McKenna shrugged as she emptied a handful of Bertie Bott's beans into her mouth. "Sending a letter with George. They'll be here soon. Why, is he another person on your list of people you miss?"

"Yeah, I just discovered I can't live without him. What can I say? Fred's just too charming." Cody rolled his eyes.

"That might be the smartest thing you ever said." Fred approached the couch with George, who sat on the arm of the couch while Fred took the seat on McKenna's other side. "It looks like I even had an effect on your little brother, Kenna." He leaned over and gave her a long, slow kiss.

"Please don't do that," Cody said, sounding disgusted.

"Why not?" Fred smirked, planting a kiss on McKenna's cheek. "Is there a problem? Since you can't live without me and all."

"Yeah, in your dreams," Cody snorted, standing up. "I happen to have a girlfriend."

McKenna had just dumped a mouthful of Every Flavor Beans in her mouth, but at Cody's words she actually spit them back into her hand. "Cute," Fred muttered sarcastically.

"What?" McKenna gasped, staring at her brother. "Sit back down and tell me who it is!"

"No," Cody said.

"You know about me and Fred!" she whined.

"_Everyone_ knows about you and Fred," Cody answered. He rolled his eyes and walked away, smirking and waving.

"Do you know anything?" McKenna asked. "About his girlfriend?"

"No," Fred answered, shaking his head and reaching for some of her Every Flavor Beans. "If I did, I would tell you."

"So," McKenna said as she changed the subject, "you mailed the letter?"

Fred and George both nodded. "Hopefully it works this time," George said.

"You know," McKenna said, "if this doesn't work—if you don't get your money back—well, it's okay. It's not the end of the world."

Fred and George didn't answer. Instead, they stared down at the ground.

"I mean it," McKenna insisted. "You'll get the money another way. It might take longer than if the Bagman incident hadn't happened, but you'll do it."

"Yeah," Fred sighed, "it's just discouraging to have such a huge setback."

"You're going to show Bagman exactly what he was slowing down from happening when you open that joke shop and I want you to remember that I love you both whether you open one or not."

"Oh, we're going to open one," George said determinedly as Fred nodded. "Although I do appreciate your comment about loving me." He winked dramatically.

"She said _us_, George," Fred said, playfully shoving his brother. George shoved him back.

"Come on," McKenna said, laughing in exasperation. "I'm trying to be serious."

"So are we," Fred said. "George is hitting on my girlfriend. It's very serious."

"Just because you're dating her doesn't make her yours," George pouted. "I'm friends with her, too."

"George, you know I love you as my friend. I don't think Katie would be too happy if I loved you any more than that."

"Yeah, go give some of your love to Katie," Fred said, pulling McKenna towards him and trying to hide his smile.

"Fine, kick me out. I know when I'm not wanted," George said, standing up and walking away, throwing a smile over his shoulder.

"So jealous," McKenna said, swatting Fred's arm.

"Mhm," Fred answered quietly, kissing her just below her ear. "I'm not about to lose you to anyone."

"Turns out girls aren't so bad, huh?"

"What?" Fred asked.

"At the very beginning of the year, on Platform 9 ¾, you told me how you had sworn off girls because they were too complicated."

"Like I said," Fred answered, "that was when George and I were six. You know, before the hormones kicked in. Anyway, it _was _complicated. Fighting with you all the time over all those secrets, knowing you liked Oliver…I thought I was just supposed to keep getting my heart broken over and over. I thought I was going to lose you forever."

"But since you didn't…" McKenna prodded.

"Since I didn't," Fred said, "I couldn't be happier. The hardest part might be over, but it's still not going to be easy. Except now I'm not going to give up. I'm fully prepared to work for our relationship."

"Wow," McKenna whispered. "That was so insightful and romantic."

"Underestimating me?" Fred asked.

"No, of course not," she answered quickly, sliding closer and resting her head on his shoulder. "I never underestimate you. Just like I never judge you."

Fred sighed and kissed the top of her head. "Thanks for that."

"Anytime," she giggled.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review. There's only going to be about two more chapters of this story after this one. We're almost at the end. :(**


	27. Chapter 27

"_A person hears what you say, a friend listens to what you say and a best friend listens to what you don't say." _**-Unknown**

* * *

><p>"He said, and I quote, 'as I've told you before, you're too young to be gambling and if you contact me again, I can get you into more legal trouble than you're worth'." Fred tossed the letter on the floor with a snort. George, in the middle of pacing, kicked it into the fire before continuing to pace.<p>

"Ridiculous," he muttered. "What does he know about anything?"

"He knows a lot," McKenna said. "Do you really want to make this more complicated than it is?"

George sighed. "She's right. If we get into any legal trouble, it'll probably cost mum and dad a lot of stress, trouble-,"

"—and money," Fred added.

"Which they don't have," George concluded.

"So you want to give up?" Fred asked, looking up at George as George paused in front of him. Fred was sitting on the couch, his hands clasped together and supporting the weight of his chin as he leaned forward on his elbows.

George didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked back at Fred, communicating silently in a way that wasn't unusual for them.

McKenna sat back in her chair and watched them, not wanting to interrupt their silent conversation.

"Okay," Fred finally sighed, leaning back and staring into the fire, "we're done."

"Done," McKenna repeated.

"Done," George said, sitting next to Fred. "It's not worth it anymore."

They fell into silence and, knowing they were upset, McKenna stood and moved to the couch. "Move over," she said quietly. They moved to opposite ends of the couch and she sat in between them, putting a hand on each of their knees as she looked from one twin to the other. "I'm proud of you."

Fred looked up. "How can you be? George and I are kind of in a mess. We lost our money, tried to blackmail someone and still can't get our money back."

"I'm proud of you for trying so hard, but not going too far with this. You want to open a joke shop more than anything and you've been trying anything to get that money that _you_ worked so hard to get. You even went as far as trying to enter the tournament and blackmailing Bagman, both of which were stupid ideas if you ask me, but…" she trailed off, sighed and shrugged. "You made a good decision in not going any further with this."

"If I knew giving up like this would make you this proud…" Fred said, laughing and shaking his head.

"You dummy," George snorted, "she's proud that we didn't_ want_ to give up but did before something really terrible happened."

"Thank you, George," McKenna said. "That's exactly what I was getting at."

"Now what we have to figure out, though," George said, "is how we're going to start getting money to save up again."

"Birthdays, Christmas," McKenna suggested, "loose coins around the house."

"That's what we were doing before," Fred smiled, "and it took us forever to save up what we had. A few years, actually."

"Well, so what if it takes a few years longer than you hoped?" McKenna shrugged. "As long as you get there, right?"

"Yeah," Fred and George said together, "as long as we get there."

* * *

><p>"Fred, we're supposed to be heading down to the third task," McKenna said.<p>

"We have a few more minutes," Fred answered quickly before he leaned down to kiss her.

They had both been on their way to the third task to meet George, Katie, Angelina and Oliver when Fred had unexpectedly pulled McKenna behind a statue.

"But everyone will be down there already," McKenna said, pulling away from Fred.

"That's a good thing. They'll save us seats. Now will you please shut up? I can't kiss you if you're talking, and I _really_ want to kiss you." He smirked down at her.

"Maybe you're going to have to work for it," McKenna teased, ducking under his arm and running away. He caught up to her in a matter of seconds and threw her over his shoulder. McKenna let out a scream of surprise. "Hey, put me down. You hardly had to do any work. It took you about five seconds to catch me."

"What can I say? I really wanted a kiss," Fred said, putting her down behind the statue again and making sure to block her extra well this time.

"I guess I can agree to that," McKenna smirked, relaxing against the wall. With that, Fred started kissing her, the fingers of one hand at the back of her neck and the other on her waist.

McKenna wound her arms around Fred's neck and played with his hair. "We really have to go," she said quietly after a few minutes.

"Why? To watch the hedges of the maze grow?" Fred snorted sarcastically. "It's not like we can see the action."

"We couldn't see what was happening during the last task," McKenna reasoned as Fred moved on to kissing her neck. "And we still went to that."

"Yeah," Fred agreed, sounding if he knew he didn't have anything good to say back, "but that was to make sure Harry didn't die."

"Aren't you worried about his safety this time?"

"Yeah, but this time we aren't involved and can't be held responsible. Last time we were helping him."

"You're awful," McKenna said with a small giggle.

"Don't you love me?" Fred asked, kissing her cheek.

"Of course I do," she answered, sliding her hands down his chest. Fred looked down at her as they both caught their breath. "But," she continued after a moment, "if Harry wins this thing then I want to be there to see it."

"Yeah, I do too," Fred said. He took McKenna's hand. "Come on." He led her out from behind the statue. McKenna straightened her shirt with one hand before smiling up at Fred.

"Ready?"

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

><p>Seconds after one of the champions—McKenna couldn't tell who-returned from the maze, a scream sounded from the front of the crowd.<p>

"What's going on?" George asked. "That didn't sound like a happy scream."

"I don't know," Fred said. "Maybe Harry's won and one of Diggory's fan girls is throwing a tantrum."

"Let's go find out," McKenna said, grabbing Fred's hand and dragging him down the bleacher stairs. George and Katie followed close behind them. A crowd was gathering a few feet away from the bottom and McKenna started edging her way forward to see what the commotion was all about.

"You can't come any closer." Professor McGonagall swooped out of nowhere and held up her hands to stop them from going through. McKenna recognized the look of terror on the professor's face at once and her stomach dropped.

"Why, what's happened?" she demanded.

"Is it Harry?" Fred asked.

"Is he alright?"

McKenna could hear more people filing out of the stands, most still cheering. Somewhere to her left, McKenna heard Cornelius Fudge whisper, "Get everyone back in their seats; a boy's just been killed."

"Killed?" Fred asked, apparently having heard the Minister as well.

"Who-," McKenna began, but Professor McGonagall interrupted her, her mouth in a thin line.

"Cedric Diggory. Harry's just brought him back."

McKenna glanced over Professor McGonagall's shoulder and she could now see a huddled group of people kneeling around Harry and a lifeless Cedric. Dumbledore was crouched in front of Harry, talking to him.

"He's back," Harry said, his voice carrying to where McKenna was standing with Fred, George and Katie. "He's back, Voldemort's back."

It was now that the crowd was falling silent as the news traveled from the students gathered in the front to the ones standing in the back, still crammed into the stands. An odd hush had fallen over the entire area. McKenna was almost thrown to the ground as someone pushed past her: Mr. Diggory. He let out a strangled cry before kneeling down beside his son.

"That's awful," McKenna whispered, turning towards Fred. She buried her face into his shirt and he put his arms around her. It was horrible to watch Mr. Diggory like that. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling right now and she wasn't sure if she wanted to.

"It's okay," Fred whispered, rubbing her shoulders. He didn't even fully believe his own words, but he was speaking them as a comfort to himself and more importantly, McKenna. He looked over at George, whose eyes were full of worry and panic. Katie was standing next to him, her hands covering her mouth.

"Start heading back to your common rooms!" Professor McGonagall announced to the students. Nobody moved, so she let out a sigh before yelling "Now!" After that, everyone started moving back towards the castle at once. Fred didn't make any effort to move, though, and neither did McKenna, still wrapped in his arms. They both felt frozen to the ground.

Professor McGonagall glanced over her shoulder, saw them, and hurried back. "Go," she said gently. "This is no place for you to be."

"Is Harry going to be alright?" George asked from behind Fred.

McGonagall shrugged. "Eventually," she finally said.

"How did it happen?" Fred asked shakily. "Who—or what-killed him?" McKenna turned her face away from Fred's shirt to look at McGonagall.

After a short pause, McGonagall scanned their faces. "I think you already know the answer," she whispered.

McKenna looked at Harry, who was being led away by Mad-Eye Moody before looking up at Fred. He looked back at her and she could tell from the look in his eyes that he was thinking the same thing she was. What Harry was saying was true. Voldemort was back and he had killed Cedric Diggory.


	28. Chapter 28

"_If you like her, if she makes you happy and if you feel like you know her, then don't let her go." __**–Nicholas Sparks**_

* * *

><p>"The end of another year." Dumbledore was standing at the front of the great hall, staring seriously around the room.<p>

It was the end of the year feast and McKenna hadn't seen a sadder one. The room was decorated in black and everyone was silent. Everyone had been affected by Cedric's death in some way. To most people, it seemed as if they didn't think it was possible to lose a classmate and they were still trying to wrap their heads around it.

"Tonight, in addition to enjoying this wonderful feast," Dumbledore continued, "I want everyone to take a moment to remember Cedric Diggory, who should be sitting here." He gestured to the Hufflepuff table before speaking again. "He should be sitting at that table enjoying the feast with us. The Ministry does not wish for me to tell you this, but I think you all deserve to know what really happened. Not telling you would be an insult to his memory." He stopped and cleared his throat. "Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort."

A heavy silence filled the room. Nobody moved or spoke. It didn't even sound like anyone was breathing.

"I'm telling you this," Dumbledore continued, "so you can remember a smart, kind, hardworking boy who unfortunately crossed paths with the wrong person. I want you to remember Cedric Diggory, a boy who was kind and brave and honest and true, right until the very end."

Once the food was served, the noise of people talking started off quietly before growing louder.

"Hey," Fred said, glancing at McKenna, "you look like you're thinking too hard. Take it easy before your hair lights on fire."

"I was just thinking…well, I feel bad for thinking about this under the circumstances, but, if Harry technically won the tournament, is Bagman out of debt?"

Fred shook his head. "No, we heard the goblins saying that the bet was that Harry would win outright and the goblins are going to say that he tied with Cedric." He shrugged. "Of course, technically he did, but Cedric just didn't live, which is why Harry got all the winnings."

"What if Cedric had lived? Who would have gotten the money?"

"They would have split it, probably," Fred answered, shrugging again.

"So, you aren't getting your money," McKenna said. "Bagman's still in debt."

"I've told you," Fred said quietly, "we gave up."

"So, if Bagman did pay his debt and gave you your money, you'd refuse it?"

"No, but that didn't happen. It's over and it's okay. George and I will get the money somehow. Like you said, it might take longer, but just as long as we get there someday."

"I know, but it makes me sad. I know you're disappointed and I hate it."

"Kenna," Fred said, tilting her chin up with his finger. "Don't worry about us. We'll do it. We may have given up on Bagman, but we're in no way giving up on opening a joke shop."

McKenna nodded and looked up into his clear blue eyes. "Okay," she whispered. "Promise?"

Fred smiled at her. "I promise."

McKenna nodded. "Okay." She smirked. "Don't mess it up this time like I know you have a habit of doing."

"Trust me, this is one promise I don't plan on messing up," Fred grinned. He gave her a peck on the lips before turning back to his food.

* * *

><p>"Exploding Snap, anyone?" Fred asked, holding up a deck of cards and waving them.<p>

"Definitely," McKenna and George said at once.

"I'm in," Ron said as Harry, Hermione and Ginny agreed as well. They were all sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, heading back to King's Cross Station.

"Great," Fred said, shuffling the cards.

At the end of their third game, Fred let out a cheer. "Winner again!"

"Honestly, give someone else a chance," McKenna smirked.

"He never lets anyone else win," George muttered.

"Not even me?" McKenna asked, sliding closer to Fred and resting her head on his shoulder.

Fred paused. "No, not even you," he finally said with a grin.

"So," Ron said, "are you going to tell us who you were blackmailing?"

"How do they-?" McKenna asked, sitting up straight.

"We ran into them in the owlery while we were mailing Bagman's letter. They overheard us," Fred muttered.

"So, aren't you going to tell us?" Ron prodded.

"He just did," Hermione said, frowning. "Bagman?"

"Oops, slip-up," Fred said with a guilty smile.

"Why were you blackmailing him?" Ginny asked.

Fred and George looked at each other before taking turns explaining what had happened.

"It must have been a mistake!" Hermione said.

"That's what we thought at first, too," George replied.

"Then we found out that he was in debt with the goblins. He was trying to pay them back by betting that you'd win the tournament, Harry," Fred continued.

"That's why he kept offering to help me," Harry concluded. "So, he won, then?"

"He didn't win," George said, shaking his head. "He bet that you would win fair and square and the goblins say you tied with Diggory."

"It's alright, though," Fred said, throwing an arm around McKenna's shoulders. "We'll get the money somehow."

Nobody said anything, so Fred removed his arm from around McKenna and began shuffling the Exploding Snap cards again. "Anyone want to attempt to win a game against me again?"

"Let's do it," McKenna said as everyone else nodded in agreement.

* * *

><p>"Fred, George, wait a minute."<p>

The twins turned at the sound of their names. Harry was lowering his trunk from the overhead racks. Everyone else had gone on ahead except for McKenna, who was waiting by the compartment door.

"Go on ahead, we'll catch up," Fred said. She nodded and disappeared.

"What is it, Harry?" George asked.

Harry opened his trunk and dug though it before pulling out a bag. "Here." He tossed it at them and Fred caught it against his chest.

"What is it?"

"The tournament money," Harry said. "I don't need it and I don't want it. You need it and want it more than I do."

"Harry, we can't take it. You won this," George said, taking the bag from Fred and trying to pass it back to Harry, who stuck his hands behind his back and took a step away from them.

"I don't want it. If you don't take it, I'll hex you. I know some good ones now. Use some of the money to buy Ron some new dress robes and say they're from you," he shrugged.

"Harry, we don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything," Harry said. "Just open that joke shop. I think we're all going to need some laughs. I know I will."

"Thanks, Harry," George said, his eyes wide as he continued to process what had just happened.

"Don't mention it," Harry replied, dragging his trunk past them and out the door.

"What's that?" McKnna asked. She was waiting on the platform right outside the train when Fred and George finally joined her.

"A thousand Galleons," George said.

"What?"

"Harry gave us his winnings," Fred said.

"Why?"

"He didn't want them."

"So he gave them to you?"

"Yeah."

McKenna let out a laugh and threw her arms around Fred. "That's great! I can't believe it!"

"Neither can we," Fred whispered into her hair as he hugged her back. He laughed and spun her around before kissing her cheek.

They started walking back towards their parents, but as they did, McKenna saw Cody standing by a section of the train. He was holding hands with a girl, but because of the crowd, McKenna couldn't see her face. "Look," she said, nudging Fred and pointing. "Can you tell who he's with?"

Fred stretched his neck and his eyes widened when he finally saw who Cody's mystery girlfriend was. "It's Alicia," he said with a smile and a small laugh.

"Alicia?" McKenna asked. "My brother, Cody, with Alicia? Our friend, Alicia?"

"Yeah," Fred said.

"Why didn't they tell us?"

"They probably weren't ready yet," Fred shrugged. "I doubt they were purposely keeping it from us."

"She's too old for him."

"Two years isn't that much," Fred said.

"They should have said something!" McKenna said, not sure what to feel about this new discovery.

"They probably didn't want to because they knew you'd freak out until you wrapped your head around the idea. They probably would have said something eventually," Fred reasoned.

"Maybe you're right," McKenna answered. "But I'm still going to go over there and give them hell for it."

Fred laughed "Not everybody is a liar out to keep secrets from you."

"Well, you made me paranoid!"

"Me?" Fred asked, pretending to look offended.

"Yes, you," she said, "but guess what?"

"What?"

"It was worth it." McKenna smiled as she wound her arms around Fred's neck and kissed him. The butterflies in her stomach confirmed what she had just said: it had all been completely worth it.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well, this is the last chapter. It doesn't seem like I've been writing this story for that long, but it's been two months. Anyeay, I hope everyone enjoyed it, thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a review!**


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